Coverage of a report into the death of an 11-week-old boy has sparked calls for a newspaper editor to resign.

The Edinburgh Evening News told how a report into the killing of 11-week-old Caleb Ness said social workers had failed to identify the clues which could have prevented his death.

The newspaper demanded that Edinburgh social work chiefs Les McEwan and Kingsley Thomas quit or be sacked – leading in turn to calls for the resignation of Evening News editor Ian Stewart.

The 250-plus page report into Caleb’s death said fault had been at “almost every level in every agency involved”, particularly in the health service and the city’s social work department.

Following the finding the Evening News called for social work director Les McEwan and social work leader Kingsley Thomas to step down.

It also printed a letter which it invited readers to cut out and send to the men to demand that they should quit.

This sparked a number of social workers to send their own version of Ian’s letter back to him calling for him to resign.

Twenty letters have now been received by the paper accusing it of a “vilification campaign” based on “one-sided” evidence.

But editor Ian says he stands by the paper’s stance, and the general response to the paper’s coverage has been good.

He said: “When you consider that there are 4,800 social workers employed by the council I don’t think that is a massive weight of response.

“Les McEwan has now resigned and it is still our view that Kingsley Thomas should go.”

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