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BBC News
4 days ago
- BBC News
Big Mags: The paedophile-hunting granny who built a heroin empire
In January 1997, long before the modern phenomena of online "paedophile hunters", a Scottish grandmother found overnight fame when she successfully drove a convicted child sex offender out of the Raploch housing estate in Stirling. Margaret 'Big Mags' Haney and her brand of mob justice transformed her into a matriarchal media of her most famous appearances was on the popular daytime TV show Kilroy where she was invited to discuss the 'paedophile panic' that was sweeping the county. Haney argued with the show's host, squabbled with other guests, and threatened two men in the audience, clearly wearing disguises, who had been convicted of abusing profile skyrocketed and in her new role as a self-styled anti-paedophile campaigner she began to pop up at protests across the country. She was embraced as a salt-of-the-earth straight talker, applauded in many quarters for standing up for decent folk and for taking action to, as she would put it, fix a problem no-one else was with a microphone, sometimes with a placard, if Mags was part of the mob, it got the press interested - and the media appearances kept coming."I think it was something at her core that she really believed was wrong," says Cassie Donald, Haney's granddaughter, who has spoken for the first time to a BBC podcast."The community was suffering enough without paedophiles."She wasn't the only person who stood up. She just happened to shout the loudest." But Haney was harbouring a secret and it wasn't long before it came months after Haney's vigilantism, and her steep rise to fame, the press's focus shifted to the Haney family's criminal rap Mags was the head of a "one family crime wave" responsible for thefts and violence across were dubbed "Scotland's Family from Hell" by the tabloids."Some of them could have scores of crimes against their name," the Daily Record's Mark McGivern remembers."The amount of crimes committed in Stirling by that family was the stuff of legend so they weren't great to have around," he says. With the family's crimes exposed and the local community's patience at an end, Big Mags and the Haneys were forced to leave the estate by a 400-strong mob - bigger than the one whipped up to remove the paedophile Alan Christie six months crowd gathered near Mags's flat, chanting "build a bonfire and put the Haneys on the top".As the chants got louder, police vans screeched into Huntly Crescent to prevent a came out in pink t-shirt and slippers and gave the crowd the finger as she was led away for her own safety. After her exile from the Raploch estate, Haney was put in temporary council with no other local authority in Scotland or the north of England willing to rehouse her, she eventually settled in Lower Bridge Street, a stone's throw away from her old stomping it all she remained a cause célèbre and the Scottish press still loved a Big Mags 2000, a darker secret emerged about the matriarch and the Haney clan. Mark McGivern's newspaper launched their "Shop-A-Dealer" campaign that encouraged readers to anonymously tip off the biggest heroin dealers in their phones lit up, with many callers ringing up to put Big Mags in the frame, exposing her as the big boss of a drug dynasty that ran heroin out of their flats. McGivern remembers how Mags's status changed from celebrated to feared."She was a public figure, a community leader, quite a big heroin dealer, and she was a gangster," he journalist had a well-placed source who laid out to him the Haney drug operation, with Mags at the top, so he "scratched around" and witnessed family members selling drugs from the flats. McGivern even bought a couple of bags of heroin from Haney lieutenants as part of his investigation. Despite having the goods to run the story, he thought he'd try his arm at a direct deal with the boss herself."I've walked in, I've been asked to come into the living room and I was kind of surprised that Mags had sat in a throne, a big chair in the middle of the room," the reporter recalls."I asked to buy drugs - heroin - and she looked at me and said: 'We don't sell heroin here'. "I was thinking, 'how am I going to get out of here?'." Rumbled and feeling somewhat intimidated, McGivern scarpered out of "Fortress Haney", as it was known, and headed back to write up his story. The Daily Record splashed Mags's face across the newspaper with the headline "Dealer number one".A police sting operation followed. Four members of the Haney clan were arrested for drug offences and tried at the High Court in Edinburgh. The court heard Haney was making up to £1,000 a day from the operation in addition to getting paid £1,200 a month in state judge, Lady Smith, said 60-year-old Mags was the mastermind behind the operation, dealing vast quantities heroin from what was known as "Haney's hotel".Haney was jailed for 12 years, her daughter Diane, 35, was sentenced to nine years, 40-year-old niece Roseann to seven years and 31-year-old son Hugh to five years. Diane's daughter Cassie was just 10 when her mum and "nana" went to prison."I can remember I went to school the morning of their sentencing and I came home and they just weren't there," Cassie told the BBC."It was, 'your mum's in prison but you'll see her soon'," Cassie says."The attitudes towards them at the time were very much, 'you've made your bed and you lie in it', and there wasn't a lot of thought for everybody." Despite these convictions, local residents and journalists remained puzzled as to why it took so long to dismantle the Haney drug operation, which was allegedly rampant throughout the 1990s. Those Haney family members were convicted for their involvement in an 18-month drug operation that ran until their arrest in McLean, a retired police officer who investigated the Haneys, told the BBC podcast why he thought their drug operation wasn't shut down sooner."The obvious answer is that she was informing," he said. "Crime families and organised crime leaders, I have met all of these people and I've never met one that didn't talk to the police at some level."Another police source confirmed that Big Mags would provide officers with information. Mags Haney died of cancer in 2013, aged years on, Cassie believes her grandmother's legacy is more complex than was portrayed in the media."Two things can be true at one time," she says. "You can be a drug dealer that has sold drugs that have potentially killed people, but you could also still be a loving grandmother and a good person. "I still feel like we owe it to her to tell her story." The full series of the 'Crime Next Door: The Ballad of Big Mags' podcast is available on BBC Sounds now.
The Independent
09-07-2025
- The Independent
Indian family of five beaten to death on suspicion of ‘practising witchcraft'
Three people have been arrested in India 's eastern state of Bihar after five members of a family were brutally killed on suspicion of performing witchcraft on children. A mob of about 50 people wielding sticks and other weapons barged into the family's home at Tetgama village, Purnea district, on Sunday night, and assaulted and burned them, police said. Their charred bodies were recovered on Monday morning after a minor family member, the sole survivor, reported the attack to police. Police said that they were investigating whether the five people were burned alive or set on fire after being killed. The dead included three women. The villagers suspected that the family was responsible for the fatal illness of a boy in the village who had died 10 days earlier. On Sunday night, according to local reports, the child's brother had also taken ill. The victims were identified as Babu Lal Oraon, 50, his mother Kanto Devi, 70, and his wife and two adult children. The lone survivor was Oraon's 16-year-old son, who was away at a relative's when the attack happened. He alleged the entire village was behind the attack. He alleged the mob accused his mother of killing the boy with witchcraft and proceeded to attack his family with sticks and sharp weapons, the Hindustan Times reported. 'It's an Oraon community village, with most of the villagers belonging to the tribal group. We received information that five members of a family were assaulted and killed,' Pankaj Kumar Sharma, a local police officer, said. 'Whether they were burnt alive or set on fire after death is under investigation.' Although the survivor had named four people in his complaint, Mr Sharma said, police suspected many more villagers were involved in the attack. 'Raids are ongoing to apprehend the remaining accused and we're also investigating to check for any further involvements,' he added. Senior police officer Pramod Kumar Mandal said the Oraon family had allegedly been forced by a fellow villager named Ramdev Mahto to 'heal' his sick child. When the child didn't recover, he said, they killed all five family members. "This is a ghastly incident. Nobody can believe that such an incident can occur in the 21st century,' Mr Mandal said. Attacks, mainly on women and widows, on suspicion of practising witchcraft are not uncommon, especially in eastern India, despite laws banning witch hunts. In 2018, nine people were sentenced to death for murdering three members of a family they had accused of being witches. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, around 2,100 such murders took place in the country between 2001 and 2012. In 2020 alone, at least 15 women were murdered on suspicion of witchcraft.
Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Six people accused of witchcraft are killed by mob who burn two alive, stone others to death or fatally beat them with clubs
Six people accused of witchcraft have been burned alive, stoned or beaten to death in an act of 'horrific, unspeakable barbarity' in Burundi. The mob dragged the group from their homes on Monday after accusations were made by members of the ruling party's powerful youth movement, known as the Imbonerakure, according to witnesses. Imbonerakure is described as a militia by the United Nations and rights organisations. The two men who were burned alive have been named locally as Rwoba and Bimara, as well as another man, Vinicius, who was beaten with sticks. The attacks came after unfounded rumours circulated around the cause of recent deaths including that of a teacher and child, RPA said. Locals blamed witchcraft as the reason, prompting the attacks. Bujumbura provincial governor Desire Nsengiyumva said yesterday that 12 people had been arrested over the incident. Four more have since been arrested, Le Journal Africa reported. Mr Nsengiyumva denounced the 'unacceptable mob justice', saying locals had wrongly attributed recent unexplained deaths to the victims. The tiny nation is predominantly Christian, and traditional beliefs are deeply rooted with unexplained deaths often blamed on witchcraft. Only last year, the Supreme Court sentenced a former prime minister to life imprisonment for charges 'including using witchcraft to threaten the president's life, destabilising the economy and illegal enrichment'. The official said three further people were also beaten but were ultimately rescued after police intervened. One victim remains in hospital, Le Journal Africa reported. 'A group of young Imbonerakure entered the homes of about 10 people accused of witchcraft. They then attacked them,' according to the official from Gasarara Hill, 10 kilometres east of Burundi's economic capital, Bujumbura. 'Six people were killed, two of them burned alive. The others were beaten to death with clubs or stoned with large stones thrown at their heads,' the official said. 'It was horrific, unspeakable barbarity.' Several unverified videos have circulated on social media since Tuesday but two clips set on Gasarara Hill, in the Nyabibondo area, were authenticated to AFP by two witnesses, who identified the group as the Imbonerakure. Several rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have accused the Imbonerakure of killing and torturing dozens of people, particularly under the authoritarian rule of former president Pierre Nkurunziza, in power from 2005 until 2020.
RNZ News
09-06-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Fake news and real cannibalism: a cautionary tale from the Dutch Golden Age
By Garritt C. Van Dyk of The 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol in 2021. Photo: AFP/ Getty Images - Samuel Corum The Dutch Golden Age, beginning in 1588, is known for the art of Rembrandt, the invention of the microscope, and the spice trade of the Dutch East India Company. It ended a little under a century later in a frenzy of body parts and mob justice. In 1672, enraged by a fake news campaign, rioters killed the recently ousted head of state Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis. The mob hung them upside down, removed their organs, ate parts of the corpses, and sold fingers and tongues as souvenirs. Even in a period characterised by torture and assassination, this grisly act stands out as extreme. But it also stands as a warning from history about what can happen when disinformation is allowed to run rampant. The attack on Johan and Cornelis de Witt was fuelled by a relentless flood of malicious propaganda and forgeries claiming the brothers were corrupt, immoral elitists who had conspired with enemies of the Dutch Republic. The anonymous authors of the smear campaigns blamed Johan for war with England and "all the bloodshed, killing and injuring, the crippled and mutilated people, including widows and orphans" that allegedly kept him in power. According to one pamphlet, the violence was legitimate because the ends justified the means: "Beating to death is not a sin in case it is practised against a tyrant." The sentiment echoes a quote frequently attributed to Napoleon, recently shared by US President Donald Trump on social media: "He who saves his country does not violate any law." These days, of course, we've become accustomed to the dangers fake news (and deepfakes) pose in the promotion of political violence, hate speech, extremism and extrajudicial killings. In March, for example, historical footage of war crimes in Syria was manipulated by generative AI to appear as current events. Combined with disinformation in chat rooms and on social media, it incited panic and violence. The effects were magnified in a country with no reliable independent media, where informal news is often the only source of information. But even in a superpower with an established media culture, similar things happen. Before the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol in 2021, Trump called on thousands of supporters at a "Save America" rally to "fight like hell" or they were "not going to have a country anymore". This was shortly before Congress verified the presidential election result, which Trump alleged was invalid because of voter fraud. Addressing the same crowd, Trump advisor Rudolph Giuliani called for "trial by combat". What happened might not have been as extreme as the events in the Netherlands 350 years earlier, but a violent mob fired up on disinformation still shook the foundations of US democracy. The deeper forces at work in the US were and still are complex - just as they were in the 17th-century Dutch Republic. What brought it down was a volatile mix of power struggles, geopolitical rivalries and oligarchy. William of Orange had been excluded from the office of stadtholder, the hereditary head of state, by a secret treaty with England under Oliver Cromwell to end the First Anglo-Dutch War. When the English monarchy was restored, however, the treaty became invalid and the Orangists attempted to reinstate William. Johan De Witt represented the States Party, made up of wealthy oligarchs, whereas William was seen as a man of the people. The republic had built an impressive navy and merchant fleet but neglected its army. A land invasion by France and allies was supported by the English navy. To prevent the invasion from advancing, land was flooded by opening gates and canals. The combination of floods and an occupying army threw the economy into chaos. The Orangists wouldn't cooperate with the States Party, and the republic was on the brink of collapse. The Dutch referred to 1672 as the Rampjaar, the "disaster year". Satirists, pamphleteers and activists seized on the crises as an opportunity to ramp up their campaign against the de Witt brothers. Political opposition turned into personal attacks, false accusations and calls for violence. Johan was assaulted and stabbed in an attempted assassination in June 1672, resigning from his role as head of state two months later. Cornelis was then arrested for treason. When Johan went to visit him in prison, the guards and soldiers disappeared, and a conveniently positioned mob dragged the brothers into the street. The rest, as they say, is history. William III was strongly suspected of orchestrating the brothers' gruesome murder, but this was never confirmed. Is there is a moral to the story? Perhaps it is simply that, in a time of crisis, a campaign of disinformation can transform political opposition and rebellion into assassination - and worse. Pamphlets - the social media of their day - manipulated public perception and amplified popular anxiety into murderous rage. A golden age of prosperity under a republic headed by oligarchs ended with ritualised political violence and the return of a monarch who promised to keep the people safe. They say history doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme. As ever, the need to separate fact from fiction remains an urgent task.
Daily Mail
07-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Raging 'warrior' mother 'beats rapist to death with the help of furious mob after finding her disabled daughter undressed in his house' in South Africa
A raging mother beat a rapist to death with the help of an angry mob after finding her disabled daughter undressed at his house in South Africa. The 44-year-old - who has been dubbed 'warrior woman' in her village - arrived home after shopping in Cacadu, Eastern Province, last month to find her 20-year-old girl missing. Neighbours told her she was last seen walking with a 65-year-old local man to his house and when she stormed in she found the pair in a state of undress on the bed. A furious mob who had followed the woman – who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim – also entered the suspect's small holding and witnessed the scene. The mother was charged with murder but has now been cleared following a public outcry. South African Police spokesman Captain Yolisa Mgolodela said: 'The woman caught the man and her daughter getting dressed and asked her what had just been happening. 'The victim pointed down to her private parts and the mum, assisted by residents, attacked the man who was allegedly beaten to death, leading to the arrest of the mother. 'The assault by the mother and the community on the alleged perpetrator left him so badly injured that he was declared dead at the scene when an ambulance arrived', he said. She was bailed and brought before Cacadu Magistrates on Monday where the National Prosecuting Authority dropped the charge following a huge wave of public support. Accused of murder the mother stood before a magistrate on Monday in a court room packed with high profile supporters. Locals cheered as the charge of murder was dropped. National Prosecuting Authority's Eastern Cape spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said: 'The matter has been withdrawn after careful consideration by the Director of Public Prosecutions'. The relieved mother told News24: 'I thank everyone who supported me since the incident and my subsequent arrest and the withdrawal of the charge means I can now help my daughter. 'I will now have the strength to focus fully on her wellbeing as she has been emotionally distressed by what happened to her as a doctor has confirmed that she was raped' she said. The brave mother had earlier told how the rapist was a family friend and how she stormed up to his house and kicked in the door and found him and her daughter both half dressed. She told News24:'I cried and asked this man what he was doing to my disabled daughter who cannot even speak for herself so defending her myself was the only option I had'. She added: 'What happened happened and is in the past and my daughter and I have to rebuild. Once again I thank everyone for their support which has come from all across SA'. Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane and his Social Development provincial cabinet minister Bukiwe Fanta were among a huge crowd supporting the mother at the court. Ms Fanta said: 'The mother's action were viewed within the context of a desperate attempt to protect her child from the hands of a violent predator. 'The decision shows compassion for how individuals may react in a crisis. 'While the rule of law is essential for order and justice it must also be applied with empathy and an art of understanding human emotion when faced by threat against ones loved ones. 'The decision reaffirms our commitment to ensuring justice is not blind but also humane. I am very pleased the charge of murder has gone as it shows compassion and understanding. 'This case has touched the hearts of many in our society and sparked a critical dialogue about the issue of GBV, parental instincts, and the complexities of our legal system. 'But the right decision was made by the NPA to withdraw the charge of murder' she said. Mr Mabuyane added: 'We commend the NPA for its sensitivity and careful consideration of the extreme circumstances that led to this case. 'The decision reflects a compassionate understanding of the context and the instinctive protective actions taken by a mother in a moment of unimaginable desperate trauma. 'No parent should be forced into a position to have to physically intervene to keep their child from harm and we must ensure our communities are safe places for them to grow'. The incident follows a string of recent cases involving gender-based violence in South Africa. In 2017 a woman became known as the 'Lion Mama' after she stabbed one man gang-raping her daughter to death and seriously wounding two others. Nokubonga Qampi received a phone call in the early hours in the same village of Cacadu as the above rape case telling her that three men were taking turns having sex with her daughter, 27. Brave Nokubonga, then 57, got no reply from the police and said later: 'I was the only one who could help her and I was very scared but it was my daughter so I picked up a knife. 'When I got into the house I could see from the light of my torch one man raping her and two men stood with their trousers round their ankles to take another turn with her. 'The saw me and rushed me and it was an instinctive reaction to protect my daughter with my knife and I do not want to talk about what happened in that room again', she said. The woman then dubbed 'Mama Lion' for 'protecting her cub' was charged with murder and two counts of attempted murder but all charges were dropped by the NPA after reflection. The two surviving rapists were sentenced to 30 years each at Cacadu Magistrates Court in 2018 and her daughter Siphokaze waived her right of anonymity to praise her brave mother. Between 2017 and 2018 there were 74 reported rapes in Cacuda – with many more too frightened to come forward – which the community say is 'shocking' in a population of just 5000. In 2019 in Muhovhoya Village in Limpopo Province a 39-year-old man was set on fire and burned to death after being caught raping a disabled teenager, aged 17, collecting firewood. Also in 2019 Veronique Makewana, 23, was charged with attempted murder for slicing off the penis of a man arrested for raping and murdering her daughter, aged 5, in Port Elizabeth. After a huge public outcry the charge was reduced to assault and magistrates later freed her. During the royal visit to South Africa by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle the same year the issue of gender-based violence was in headlines after new crime figures showed 125 rapes a day in South Africa. While the Duke & Duchess of Sussex – then working royals – visited Cape Town the story of local student Uyinene Mrwetyana, 19, who was raped and murdered led to huge demonstations. Angry protests were sweeping the Western Cape against gender-based violence and Meghan paid a private visit to the Clareinch Post Office where Uyinene was attacked and killed. Thousands of ribbons were tied to the balcony of the post office as a memorial to the talented teenager who was raped then beaten to death with a set a scales weight by a post office worker. Meghan released a photo on Instagram of her tying a yellow ribbon with a private message to the victim amongst the sea of ribbons that already festooned the post office which became a shrine. Evil Luyanda Botha, 42, had targeted the student after he told her to collect a parcel she was expecting after closing hours. He then raped her and beat her to death was jailed for life in 2019. South Africa is one of the most dangerous countries in the world with 75 murders a day and 125 rapes reported. Most involve territory and drugs wars in poor townships where life is cheap. Although tourists are vulnerable to car-jacking and being held up and robbed or being pickpocketed there have only been 5 tourists murdered in 8 years - all in situations that were avoidable.
