// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Council dropped initial investigation into sex abuse teacher
Martin Gallacher was found to have sexually abused a dozen youngsters at a Paisley school
A council has launched an investigation into how it handled sex assault allegations against a teacher later found to have abused 12 boys.
The probe will examine why police were not called in after it emerged computing teacher Martin Gallacher had assaulted a teenager at a school in Paisley.
The boy told the school what had happened to him in 2024 but an internal investigation was dropped due to "insufficient evidence".
Gallacher was eventually arrested and charged, before being convicted last week of sexually abusing pupils at the Renfrewshire school over 11 years.
It has now emerged that Renfrewshire Council did not inform authorities about the original complaint and Gallacher was allowed to remain teaching.
The trial at Paisley Sheriff Court heard the initial complainer left the school as he had not been believed and Gallacher remained in his post.
But as news of the attack spread around the school and the town, other victims came forward.
The court heard Gallacher had been grooming and abusing vulnerable youngsters for more than a decade, targeting them in his classes and at lunch, badminton and football clubs he ran within the school.
The 46-year-old is now facing a lengthy prison sentence after being convicted of 14 charges.