Bill Colley, the former headteacher New School Butterstone, a Perthshire special needs school that abruptly closed in 2018, has launched a £650,000 legal action against the Care Inspectorate, The Courier has reported.

Colley was suspended weeks before the school closed and is claiming for “substantial damage” to his reputation and loss of earnings.

New School Butterstone, near Dunkeld, which shut with just a few days’ warning, catered to 24 vulnerable students and employed 50 staff.

The school closed after potential buyer The Witherslack Group withdrew a takeover bid after losing confidence in senior staff following concerns about child protection and financial problems.

Colley, who described a Scottish Government inquest into the affair as a “shameful whitewash”, claims he was made a scapegoat and is taking action against the Care Inspectorate, which he claims acted unlawfully against him “with recklessness and malicious intent”.