BBC under fire for making six-part podcast series about notorious crime queen 'Big Mags' Haney

Daily Mail​

25-07-2025

The BBC has been criticised after it emerged it is to air a six-part podcast on notorious drug dealer 'Big Mags' Haney.
The convicted dealer ran a brutal heroin empire for years while posing as a community hero.
Haney, who died in 2013, aged 70, first came to the media's attention when she led a campaign to remove a paedophile from the notorious Raploch estate in Stirling.
But she was eventually jailed for her role in a £250,000-a-year drugs operation from her home on the estate.
And now the BBC has been criticised after announcing a six-part podcast charting the rise and fall of the crime queen.
In The Ballad of Big Mags, journalist Myles Bonnar will explore the life of the clan figurehead, who even appeared on daytime TV show Kilroy to discuss keeping children safe.
Mr Bonnar said: 'Mags Haney's rise to prominence and her dramatic fall after revelations of her criminal activities, was a story which played out in the media over years.
'The series not only examines her contradictory life but also wider issues of mob justice, community dynamics, poverty, and the creation of the so-called media personality.
'Many people only partially know the story of this controversial figure and this series will give a full account of how she rose to fame and became a source of fascination to the media and public before her criminal life was exposed.'
But Murdo Fraser, Scottish Conservative shadow business, economy, tourism and culture secretary, said: 'Eyebrows will be raised at the BBC's decision to give airtime to a woman who used her celebrity status to cover up a major heroin operation.
'Many taxpayers will question why their license fee is going towards platforming this controversial figure, particularly at a time when BBC budgets are squeezed.'
Haney first grabbed the headlines as a self-styled anti-paedophile campaigner while running the heroin empire in the 1990s.
She claimed she 'just wanted to help folk' in the community, she was eventually exposed as the leader of a notorious crime clan dubbed the 'family from hell'.
Behind her matriarch public image, the grandmother used her own children and grandchildren to sell around £24,000-worth of heroin from her council flat each month.
She was jailed for 12 years in 2003 after being convicted of running a large-scale heroin dealing operation in Stirling.
Annemarie Ward, CEO of drugs charity FAVOR UK, added: 'The media's fixation with gangland nostalgia might make for gripping listening, but it rarely tells the truth about the lives destroyed by this kind of chaos.
'Recovery communities across Scotland are still cleaning up the devastation. We don't need another folk anti-hero: we need truth, justice, and a bit of respect for the people trying to build a different future.'
A spokesperson for BBC Scotland said: 'The podcast series takes a detailed look at a story which was in the public spotlight for a significant period and was covered by many media outlets, including newspapers.
'Contributors include journalists, police, and members of the community, who give new insights into how Mags Haney positioned herself as a protector of the Raploch estate while concealing her criminal activities.
'The series is also about wider issues such as mob justice, community dynamics, poverty, and how the media operated in that era.'
The six part series will be available on BBC Sounds from Friday 8 August.