A Dunfermline childminder has admitted leaving more than 20 children she was caring for alone and unsupervised in her home.

Amanda Mathewson, 55, pleaded guilty at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to neglect and abandoning children in her care.

Her offending took place at a number of locations in Dunfermline and elsewhere in Fife.

The court heard Matthewson had 27 children in her home, 19 more than she was licensed to look after.

Mathewson, who has been a self-employed childminder for 30 years, was arrested by police following allegations of cruelty towards children.

The court heard she had provided childcare services at her home in Dunfermline for children under the age of 16.

At the time of her arrest she had 15 children aged under 12, 10 children under primary school age, and two children under the age of one in her care.

Procurator fiscal Vicki Bell told the court two parents became suspicious of Mathewson after being informed their children were not present while the childminder carried out a school run.

They secretly went to the school and found their children were not with Mathewson, despite being in her care.

They then went to her home, where they heard a “child screaming” and found five unattended children in the garden.

One of the children told the witnesses there were no adults inside, and Mathewson had told them to “wait in the garden”.

They approached the door of the house to check if there were any adults present, when they hear another child “screaming hysterically” inside.

The door was unlocked, and when the witnesses entered they found a child crying under the kitchen table.

A further nine children, all under five, were found in an upstairs bedroom. Two of them were strapped into prams. The children were said to be “distressed” but uninjured.

Police attended and Mathewson said the children had been left alone for at least 30 minutes.

The court heard ring doorbell footage showed this was the second time that day the children were left inside the house.

Mathewson admitted wilfully neglecting, abandoning and exposing children to a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to their health.

The court heard she offered childcare places for more children than she could reasonably provide care for at the time.

A Care Inspectorate report published in August 2023 said Mathewson was registered to provide care for a maximum of eight children at any one time.

It included conditions that a maximum of six children could be under the age of 12, no more than three could have started primary school, and no more than one could be under 12-months-old.

The unannounced inspection from about a year before her arrest had rated areas including care, learning and the setting as “very good”, the second-highest level in the quality scale.

The report said “children were cared for in a comfortable, welcoming and homely environment” and “were cared for with warmth, kindness and a nurturing approach”.

Sheriff John MacRitchie deferred sentencing until 6 November to allow background reports to be carried out. Mathewson’s bail was continued.