Liam Fee was found beaten to death by his mother Rachel and her lesbian partner Nyomi in March 2014

The social worker in charge of murdered toddler Liam Fee's case has been struck off due to 'serious misconduct' that amounted to neglect of 15 children.

A watchdog panel today sacked Lesley Bate, who had worked for the Fife Council team when Liam was found beaten to death with more than 30 injuries by his mother Rachel Fee and her partner Nyomi in March 2014.

The watchdog heard how Bate, who was overseeing his case, had ignored reports that the boy was bruised on numerous occasions, before his case then 'dropped off the radar'.

She was found guilty of 12 charges of misconduct relating to 15 children including Liam, who a judge said was subjected to a 'cruel and pitiless regime of ill-treatment and neglect,' when he jailed Rachel and Nyomi for life in July.

The council also tried to cover up its mistakes and the committee branded staff, including Bates' boss Karen Pedder, 'defensive' and 'evasive' in giving evidence to the hearing. It said the council was 'less reliable than might reasonably have been expected' when failures were being investigated.

Fife Council tonight said the findings of the sub-committee 'do not reflect our current practice or the high standard of professionalism we expect from staff'.

During his Rachel and Nyomi Fee's trial, the court had heard how defenceless Liam died from 'car crash-style injuries' including a ruptured heart as a result of severe blunt force trauma to his body.

The trial heard how the two killers, originally from Ryton, Tyne and Wear, carried out two years of sustained attacks on the toddler and two other boys as social services repeatedly failed to act.

The pair's depraved abuse included imprisoning one boy in a cage made from a fire guard, using cable ties to bind his hands behind his back.

They also tied another boy naked to a chair in a dark room with nine snakes and several rats, forcing him to eat his own vomit and telling him a boa constrictor 'ate naughty little boys'. They also forced the youngsters to take cold showers when they wet the bed.

But Fife Council's Childrens Services missed a host of opportunities to intervene before Liam was eventually found dead, with an untreated broken leg.

Rachel Fee or Trelfa (left), 31, who was jailed for 23-and-a-half years, and her partner Nyomi Fee, 28, who was jailed for life and ordered to spend a minimum of 24 years in prison

In a lengthy judgement given on the seventh day of the hearing today, sub-commitee convenor Catherine Duthie said Bate left Liam Fee - referred to only as FF in SSSC documents - at 'actual or potential risk of harm'.

Directly addressing the Fee case, the sub-committee found Bate had failed to follow up with Liam's health visitor after a referral on January 15 2013 because he had bruising to his face, or to record any such follow up.

Liam's childminder Heather Farmer then reported concern that Liam had a sore neck, but Bate again failed to follow up on the concerns to consider if an 'Initial Referral Discussion' was required, or record any follow up.

The sub-committee said Bate 'failed to take necessary steps to minimise actual or potential risk of harm, failed to maintain clear and accurate records and failed to meet relevant standards of practice.'

The hearing earlier heard from a string of Bate's colleagues who described the child protection team as 'split' by internal friction, with staff 'more interested in childish games' than acting professionally.

Today, the social services worker in charge of Liam's (pictured) case was struck off for misconduct that put him at risk

In relation to Liam's case, the official who investigated Bate's conduct said she failed to follow up on the case or make notes relating to it on council computer systems despite two referrals being made in a matter of weeks.

The hearing was told how Liam's mother, referred to as RT at the hearing, had fled an abusive relationship in Newcastle to settle with Nyomi Fee in Thornton, Fife.

Miss Burke said the case had been allocated to Lesley Bate after he had been referred to the department by the childminder on January 15, 2013, with unexplained bruises.

Liam presented as 'unsteady on his feet and with bruising on his back. He also had a black eye,' she said, which his mother explained had happened when he fell while playing.

On another occasion, the childminder reported that FF had a 'massive bruise' on his forehead and bruising on both legs.

The child's mother had said he had fallen out of his cot and she had found him asleep on the floor in the morning. The childminder had raised concerns about whether the child had been knocked unconscious, Miss Burke stated.

At the time of her initial joint investigation with a police officer into the family's circumstances, Miss Bate had noted that during their home visit, they found the mum's account to be 'plausible' and recommended that a health visitor at school should be contacted.

However there was to be no further role undertaken by the social work department, the note said.

Miss Bate's manager, Karen Pedder - who gave evidence at the Fee murder trial that the tot had 'fallen off the radar of social work' - had instructed her to speak to the childminder again to gain some information and to discuss with her senior manager whether referral to the department was required.

Police found a homemade cage (pictured) believed to have been used for the young boy at the house after his tragic murder

There were also chains at the house, which police believe were used to tie up the toddler

However, there was no note of any update on that, Miss Burke discovered.

Committee convenor Catherine Duthie said that her misconduct 'could have been addressed more effectively' by the council.

She said: 'That is not to say that more effective management intervention would have prevented all of your misconduct but it may have prevented the pattern of misconduct that developed.

'However, whilst systemic failures may have been a factor in the frequency and the duration of your misconduct it does not relieve you of your repsonsibilities as a social worker and does not excuse your misconduct.'

She added: 'Your failures repeatedly placed very vulnerable service users at risk of harm, including physical and emotional harm.

Lesley Bate ignored reports from his health visitor that Liam (pictured) had bruising to his face in 2013

'The sub-committee is in no doubt that your misconduct is of such a serious nature that it is likely to damage public confidence in social services. The damage may be considerable.

'The sub-committee is persuaded that this behaviour occurred with such frequency that it amounts to the neglect of service users.

'Whilst you may not have intended to harm service users your actions exposed them to unnecessary harm.'

A spokeswoman for Fife Council said: 'We welcome the findings of the tribunal.

'While we cannot discuss the details of current or former employees, we would reassure that the practice highlighted in this case is historic in nature and was dealt with robustly at the time.

'The case was first reported by the Council, to the SSSC, over three years ago and this week's hearing is the conclusion of that referral.

'This case does not reflect our current practice or the high standard of professionalism which we expect and receive from our social work staff.

'Fife Council's Children's Services were subject to a joint inspection earlier this year by the Care Inspectorate, Education Scotland, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and HMI of Constabulary for Scotland, who evaluated services in Fife very positively.

'It remains extremely important that we continuously scrutinise the work that we do.

'Significant case reviews, such as that underway into the death of Liam Fee, contribute to this scrutiny and we look forward to promoting any learning from this review as widely as possible, to help improve practice across agencies.'