‘Why does the school hate me?’: how former MI6 spy’s Scottish dream turned sour

At security debriefings, Aimen Dean and his family fell in love with the Highlands. Three years later, they feel rejected

• Father who spied on al-Qaida accuses Edinburgh school of discrimination

Aimen Dean remembers the moment he and his wife, Saadia, decided to make their home in Scotland. They had toured the Highlands and were standing on the battlements of Edinburgh Castle, looking out over the city's skyline.

Dean already knew Scotland: as one of the UK's key spies, operating in the highest levels of al-Qaida, he had visited the country in secret six times before, to be debriefed by MI6 officers at safe houses deep in the Highlands or, on one occasion, a hotel on the island of Iona.