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	Care Home Matron Is Cleared of Abuse Charges Paisley Daily Express December 6, 2008 http://www.paisleydailyexpress.co.uk/renfrewshire-news/local-news-in-renfrewshire/2008/12/06/care-home-matron-is-cleared-of-abuse-charges-87085-22415859/ A PENSIONER alleged to have physically and sexually assaulted schoolgirls at a Church of Scotland children’s home dramatically walked free from Paisley Sheriff Court yesterday. Janette Gault had been on trial accused of carrying out the abuse in the early 1970s while she was matron of Carnegie Park Children’s Home on the boundary of Johnstone and Elderslie. But, despite the fact the jury returned guilty pleas in relation to three of the charges involving alleged lewd and libidinous activity towards one of those who had accused her, that had to be overturned by Sheriff Neil Douglas as they had found a similar charge against the second complainer not proven. The not proven decision in effect meant there could not be the corroboration required to allow the guilty verdicts to stand and Sheriff Douglas had to inform jurors that, in light of what had happened, he had to direct them to record acquittals in place of the three guilty verdicts they had seconds before wished to deliver. The jury had also found Gault not guilty of physically assaulting the younger of the two sisters who had been in her care. That charge had included an accusation that she had placed the girl inside a fridge during one incident. The jury also returned a not guilty verdict in relation to the remaining charge, which maintained that Gault had physically assaulted the older of the two girls. There were gasps of disbelief from the public benches yesterday when the decision was announced and one relative of the two women who gave evidence against Gault ran from the court in tears. Earlier, the court had heard that police probing the claims that two girls were abused at the Carnegie Park home were unable to trace any records relating to the running of the establishment. It was stated that detectives had flown to Northern Ireland to interview Gault but that, when they contacted the Church of Scotland in an attempt to uncover records relating to the home, they were told that none existed. The court was told that, when quizzed by police, Gault, now aged 68, admitted she had punished the two girls at the centre of the allegations but denied she had physically assaulted them or touched them in a sexual manner. When she was asked what records had been compiled during her time at Carnegiwe Park, she admitted there were no files kept on any of the children. During the taped interview, recorded in June 2005, Gault claimed her accusers had made up false stories. She told detectives their motivation must have been to “try to get money out of the Church of Scotland”.
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