A council has announced a probe after it emerged that a man who stabbed his mum to death in Peterhead was under a guardianship order of the local authority.
We reported on Friday how Jonathon Divers admitted stabbing Elizabeth Watson at least 40 times at their home in the town’s Catto Drive and he will be sentenced for culpable homicide.
A regular churchgoer, Mrs Watson had lived in the same street for 40 years and was well known and liked in the town.
The Press and Journal can reveal Divers, 32, was the subject of a guardianship order with Aberdeenshire Council due to having a learning disability.
It meant that the council was legally responsible for making decisions on Divers’ behalf related to issues affecting his welfare and finances.
The order also meant that council staff had frequent contact with Divers’ relatives.
‘Something bad is going to happen’
Sources close to the family have told us that they expressed concerns to the council about Divers’ conduct in the five years running up to the tragedy in 2023.
One source with knowledge of the case told us: “From 2019 onwards, there were meetings and video calls, including through the Covid times and the family told the social worker ‘something bad is going to happen’.
As a child, Divers attended Anna Ritchie School, for children with special educational needs, in Peterhead.
His solicitor, John Adam, later said that Divers “fell off the radar” after leaving school.
“He fell into an abyss,” Mr Adam added.
At the time, he had an IQ of between 65 and 70. The average adult IQ is 100 and below 70 is regarded as “extremely low”.
One night in 2010, Divers had been watching violent TV shows and saw a fictional violent attack on the screen.
He then grabbed a kitchen knife, went out into the street and stabbed a stranger in the neck in Ravenscraig Road – a stone’s throw away from Divers’ home in Catto Drive.
The victim, who was 18 at the time, escaped serious injury, but was left permanently scarred.
Afterwards, Divers said he did it because he “wanted to know how it felt to kill someone”.
Divers served a year at a young offenders’ institution and moved back into the family home with mum Elizabeth Watson and her partner Gary Watson in 2017.
His brother, Neil Ross, provided family support.
It is understood Mr Ross got Divers a job at Box Pool Solutions in Peterhead and, for a while, he was holding down the job, earning money and staying out of trouble.
The source with knowledge of the case: “Jonathon was fine when he had some direction and something to focus on.
“He worked a 40-hour week and earned money – but when he was exposed to the negative influence of some of the people in his social circle, everything went wrong. Neil tried his best to keep him on the right path.
“Family members became concerned about Jonathon’s behaviour and, as they saw it, there was an escalation, from stealing to vandalism and threats.
“The family told the council ‘something bad is going to happen’ – but social work weren’t able to stop it.”
It is understood that loved ones asked the council to move Divers into an assisted-living facility to shield him from the negative influences in his life.
Powers are for ‘immediate threats’
However, such referrals can only take place if the person wants to move or if their behaviour is so extreme they are an immediate threat to themselves and others – and Divers’ did not exhibit such behaviour.
While there were incidents of concern, none of them led to police involvement, a source told us.
On the day of the killing, in June 2023, Mrs Watson returned to her home in Catto Drive to find her partner Gary Watson drinking alcohol with Jonathon.
She wanted them to leave and Divers reacted by stabbing her repeatedly with a kitchen knife.
Attacker ‘profoundly sorry’
Donald Findlay KC told Glasgow High Court last Friday: “We can be satisfied that Jonathon Divers grasps what his position is.
“He is profoundly sorry for what he did and it has caused him a great deal of pain and distress.”
In such cases, it is common for local authorities to wait until the possibility of a court trial passes before they launch learning reviews.
Committee will examine facts
Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership delivers social care on behalf of the council.
A partnership spokeswoman said that, now the possibility of a trial has been ruled out, “the Aberdeenshire Adult Protection Committee will be undertaking an in-depth learning review, looking at social work involvement with Mr Divers”.
The local authority often holds learning reviews as standard, but such reviews become “official” when someone in their care is involved in a serious incident.
As part of the review, council chiefs will speak with staff members who worked on Divers’ case and will review the sequence of events.
Their findings will go to the council’s adult protection committee and executive groups, with any learning points fed back to staff and Mrs Watson’s loved ones.
After their most recent review of Aberdeenshire’s adult support and protection service in April 2024, Care Inspectorate officers concluded there was a “strong learning culture”.
They added: “The procedures were helpful, comprehensive and in line with the national framework for learning reviews.
“There was a strong emphasis on learning from both internal and external learning reviews. Staff were positive about communication and engagement about learning reviews.
“Middle managers noted a change in mindset from learning reviews being regarded negatively to an opportunity to learn and improve.”
It is understood Mrs Watson’s loved ones have welcomed the learning review.
The source with knowledge of the case said: “The family aren’t saying the council did anything that is obviously wrong. They haven’t officially complained.
“But they are concerned that requests were made for intervention and nothing came of it, and they want it looked at.”
Community rallies round
After Mrs Watson’s death in 2023, the Peterhead community rallied round and raised more than £2,500 to help with the funeral costs.
Appealing for support on GoFundMe at the time, Karena Wetherall said: “Elizabeth was a wonderful daughter, mother, step-mother, sister and grandmother.
“She was known to be a hard worker, she would always say ‘hello’, and she also touched a lot of people lives.
“She will be sadly missed by everyone that knew her and her shining light.”