The reports concluded that, although there had flaws in the handling of the case, Brandon’s death at the hands of his prostitute mother’s boyfriend could not have been predicted.

Lorraine Garty, the mother of Brandon’s father John Paul Muir, said, “It’s a total whitewash. Brandon would be alive if these people had done their jobs. My grandson is dead and all they seem to be interested in is covering their backs.”

Mr McGovern said ultimate responsibility for the death lay with the killer, Robert Cunningham, who is now serving 10 years for culpable homicide.

Brandon died in agony after suffering a ruptured intestine in an assault by Cunningham, who had moved in with his mother Heather Boyd three weeks previously.

Tragically, an “urgent” case conference, which could have led to Brandon being taken into care, was due to be held 48 hours later — 18 days after it had been scheduled.

Commenting on his case review yesterday, independent consultant Jimmy Hawthorn said, “There were weaknesses in both interagency working and in practice at that time.”

But he found the authorities had had “little opportunity” to intervene, as Cunningham had been with Boyd for only three weeks when the fatal attack occurred.

“I do have concerns with the findings of the report, inasmuch as I believe there were opportunities to prevent the assault,” Mr McGovern said.

“If the NHS, police and the council had been working closely together there is a strong possibility Brandon would have been taken into care earlier.

“It would appear the report vindicates my earlier assertions that the various bodies involved were not communicating with each other in the most effective way possible.

“A more joined-up and transparent process is needed when discussing the cases of vulnerable children in Dundee and indeed, throughout the UK.

“How can a child die and those in charge of his welfare be cleared of all responsibility?”

He added, “I do not think it is a whitewash, but it is an absolute human tragedy that the people who are charged with looking after this child’s welfare didn’t seem to communicate with each other as they should have.”

Although social and health workers who saw the family had concerns, it came to light during the reviews that the information was not fully shared.

Social workers who interviewed Boyd and Cunningham were unaware of their criminal records, or that Boyd had started using heroin and turned to prostitution, leaving her children in Cunningham’s care.

The report recommended that, in future, all the agencies involved in child protection should try to share information better, and to place more emphasis on the welfare of children in households with drug addicts and violent offenders.

Mr Hawthorn’s findings were backed by former Fife Chief Constable Peter Wilson, who was asked to carry out an independent review of the case.

Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie said it was generally accepted that Professor Wilson’s report has been “very thorough and has considered all of the issues surrounding the Brandon Muir case.”

He continued, “It has, however, identified a number of areas which were weak, including inter-departmental and inter-agency communication between key workers on child protection cases and I welcome assurances that lessons will be learned.

“I am delighted that Dundee City Council has agreed that they will implement all of the recommendations. It is essential to have a 12-month follow up inspection and I am confident they will be able to measure real progress in the city’s child protection service.”

Shona Robison, Dundee East MSP and public health minister, added, “A large number of recommendations have been made which social workers and personnel in other key agencies will need to implement urgently.

“We owe it to Brandon and his family to have these implemented in full.

“The children’s minister, Adam Ingram, has said that the recommendations from both the case review and the Independent Report will be used by every child protection committee in all Scotland’s authorities to form the basis of strengthening child protection services nationally. I welcome this.”

Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick acknowledged that the two reports identified some failures of agencies to work jointly together which must be addressed.

“However, additional resources have already been allocated to meet the gaps in service in Dundee identified in the report and to appoint more front-line social workers,” he said.

“I am pleased that there is an extra £1.3m specifically allocated to child-protection in Dundee in this current financial year for them to be able to do this.

“Our priority as Dundee MSPs is to ensure that the action plan is fully implemented as quickly as possible to make sure that vulnerable children in Dundee are better protected in the future.”

Alan Baird, the chair of the Dundee Children and Young Persons Protection Committee, said, “This was not a whitewash. We made all our staff available, all our records were made available.

“I think staff responded quickly across agencies, and there are a number of things within the report we take very seriously. We are moving forward on all issues identified and accept all recommendations in full.”