The child protection expert who led the inquiry into the killing of schoolboy Bailey Gwynne has hit out at the way its findings were handled.

Bailey, 16, died after being stabbed in the heart at Cults Academy in Aberdeen in October 2015.

His killer can legally be named for the first time today - his 18th birthday - as fellow pupil Daniel Stroud.

Stroud was seen with a knife in school several times before the fatal attack - an incident which might have been avoided if teachers had been warned.

The ensuing inquiry recommended giving teachers new powers to let them search pupils for weapons.

That advice was rejected by the Scottish Government following strong opposition from educators, however.

Speaking publicly for the first time, inquiry chairman Andrew Lowe has criticised the way the decision was made, based on a heavily redacted version of his report provided by Aberdeen City Council.

Mr Lowe said: "I'm frankly dumbstruck they could make a decision on the basis of a report that is so heavily redacted. There were 17,000 words in there that were carefully chosen to make my case."

About a third of the report was withheld, while other parts were edited.

Mr Lowe, a former lawyer and director of social work at Borders Council, said he was not consulted before ministers made their decision.

Aberdeen City Council said it was "bound by data protection laws" and had worked closely with the Scottish Government.

But Mr Lowe cautioned against withholding information in the public interest under the guise of privacy.

"If we allow local authority lawyers to interpret data protection rules in such a way as to redact vast acres of text like this, then we're not going to make the learning that we need to make," he said.

A spokesman for the council - which faced similar criticism over its heavily-redacted report into the baby ashes scandal - insisted "provided everything requested" by ministers.