£2.5M IN PAY.. AS SURVIVORS RECEIVE £52K

A RETIRED judge in charge of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has earned almost £2.5million - while survivors receive an average payout of £52,000.

- BY MARCELLO MEGA

Lady Smith was made chair of the SCAI in July 2016, with the cost of the probe now more than £100million.

But the former judge has become a controversial figure, with survivors accusing her of lenient treatment of private schools where abuse was rife.

The suicide of abuse survivor Kevin Sutherland in December last year also sparked calls for her to quit.

Lady Smith refused Kevin's desperate pleas three times to have his distressing statement removed from the inquiry website or anonymised and he later took his life.

The Daily Record can now reveal Lady Smith's income for chairing the inquiry from July 2016 stood at almost £2.019million on March 31.

When pension contributions are added, Lady Smith had been paid £2.45million.

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay hit out at the costs of the probe. He said: "This appears to be yet another lucrative gig for select members of the SNP's quango class.

"Childhood survivors of abuse might question why these people are being handed so much taxpayers' money to administer this scheme which also attracts ambulance-chasing lawyers wanting a cut.