Bullying is the most common reason given for children taking knives into school, according to a newly published report on the killing of Bailey Gwynne.

The 16-year-old was fatally stabbed by a fellow pupil at Cults Academy in Aberdeen in October 2015.

His killer later told police he had "never fitted in" and brought the knife in an attempt to "act tough and be cool".

During his trial, the jury heard the boy, who cannot be named because of his age, had a turbulent family life and was regularly bullied.

On Monday, a heavily-redacted report into Bailey's killing was released by Aberdeen City Council.

It includes a wider study by Police Scotland on the issue of knife crime in north east schools which found that there have been 41 knife crimes across all 380 schools in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray since late 2015.

It reveals that most children could not explain why they had taken a knife into school.

However, the majority of those who did give a reason said it was because they were being bullied, followed by those who said they would use it for self-defence or self-harm.

Most children who carried knives in schools were boys aged 12 and 13, according to Police Scotland's study.

Scottish child protection chief Andrew Lowe led the independent inquiry into Bailey's death, which published its full report on Monday.

More than half of the document is fully redacted, while other pages are partly blacked-out. Forty-two people participated in interviews over the course of the review but their testimony has been removed.

A council spokesman said: "We understand the interest in the content of the review but we are bound by data protection laws and respect the wishes of the individuals and families involved.

"The review contains a great deal of sensitive, confidential and legally restricted information.

"We committed to seeking the permissions required to publish that information and have worked extensively to complete that process."

The review's findings include a recommendation the Scottish Government should consider "amending the law in relation to searching pupils".

Currently, teachers are only able to carry out searches if pupils give their consent. If consent is not given, teachers have the option of contacting parents and police.

The suggestion was resoundingly rejected by the teaching community following the publication of a brief summary of the report in October.