One of the stranger aspects of the trial was the fact that Matthew George and John Muldoon were both tried together as co-accused. This was clearly a ruse by Strathclyde Police to strengthen their weak case.
For example, one of the charges levelled against Matthew George was that he had raised his hands to a male pupil. According to the Police, the pupil claimed that John Muldoon was present during the incident and that he too raised his hands against the boy.
In court however, a different story emerged. When the pupil took the stand to give his testimony, he denied naming John Muldoon as the witness to the incident. He told the court that he had given the Police a different carer's name and stated, on record, that John Muldoon was a very good carer.
It then emerged that the Police had never let the boy read his statement, and the boy had never signed it.
John Muldoon had presented evidence to the Police that he was not even at work on the day this alleged incident took place, however the Police simply ignored this.
Clearly this particular incident was falsified by the Police. It suited their ends to involve both defendants, as the more charges they could introduce, the stronger their case would appear to the jury. The jury were being being presented with several shaky charges, no single one of which could probably stand on its own, however when taken together, they seemed substantial. Put simply, the jury would believe "No smoke without fire".
If one charge is shown to be completely without merit, perhaps other charges are also.