Father investigated over death of baby is jailed for ‘barbaric’ abuse

The father of a baby whose death in the 1960s is being reinvestigated by police has been jailed for 15 years for a “barbaric” catalogue of abuse against his former wife and two of their children.

Kenneth Blair, 66, began beating his wife from the first week of their marriage, laughing at her pleas to be spared and hitting her even when she was pregnant. He also regularly beat his young son and daughter with the heavy metal buckle of a belt.

At one stage, mother and children fled Blair and had a week away from home. The youngsters described it as the only “happy period” in their childhood.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Tayside Police had reopened inquiries into the death in 1968 of six-week-old Colin Blair in a tenement flat in Dundee. At the time, the reported cause of death had included bleeding within the skull but was not viewed as suspicious. The fresh investigation was said to have been prompted by new information coming to light.

Yesterday, at the High Court in Edinburgh, Blair, of Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, admitted assaults on his wife, Isabella, 60, his son, Scott, 42, and his daughter, Gillian, 40, in a 19-year period between 1967 and 1986, at various addresses in Dundee and Cupar, Fife.

The judge, Lady Stacey, told Blair the offences showed he had subjected his family to years of “violence, depravity and fear”.

She added: “For close on 20 years you assaulted your wife, and your son and your daughter for a period of 13 or 14 years. Nothing that can be said nor any sentence I can impose can make up for the damage you caused to your own family.”

The victims were in court, and a cry of “yes” rang out as Lady Stacey said Blair would be jailed for 15 years.

Chief Inspector Derek Mc-Ewan, of Fife Constabulary, said: “In the 1990s, Kenneth Blair left Fife to build a new life in England, leaving behind his ex-wife and children who had suffered years of horrific, sadistic abuse.

“This is one of the worst cases of abuse to come before the Scottish courts. In 2010, one of these victims courageously decided to approach Fife Constabulary public protection unit and disclosed the abuse that had taken place.” A year-long investigation, involving inquiries in Australia where a member of the family now lived, led to Blair’s arrest.

Blair also pleaded guilty to raping an underage girl and other sexual offences against her, and the advocate-depute, Andrew Stewart, QC, told the court that Blair had a history of convictions for underage sex.

Mr Stewart said Blair and his wife married in 1967, and divorced after he had been jailed in 1986 for one of his previous sexual crimes. Mrs Blair, like the children, was struck with Blair’s favourite weapon, the heavy metal buckle of a belt. The children were pre-school age.

Blair would not let the children use the toilet during the night, nor let his wife have hot water in the morning. She tried her best to wipe down the children before they went to school, but when they returned in the afternoon, Blair would smell the previous night’s urine and hit them for the odour.

Defence counsel, Herbert Kerrigan, QC, said the conduct could only be described as “barbaric”.