The BBC has today released a controversial new six-part podcast on notorious Scottish drug dealer ‘Big Mags’ Haney.
Entitled The Ballad of Big Mags, it narrates the tale of how Haney, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 70, managed a ruthless heroin syndicate for years—reportedly earning £1,000 daily—while masquerading as a community benefactor.
The drug kingpin gained media prominence in 1997 after spearheading a successful movement to oust a convicted child sex offender from the Raploch housing estate in Stirling.
She appeared on popular daytime TV show Kilroy, where she talked about the ‘paedophile panic’ that was sweeping the UK.
The media attention meant her profile skyrocketed, and Mags played into it, attending protests around Scotland as an anti-paedophile campaigner.
Although Big Mags asserted she simply ‘wanted to help people’ within the community, she was eventually unmasked as the head of an infamous crime family referred to as the ‘family from hell’.
Despite her public persona as a matriarch, the grandmother employed her own children and grandchildren to distribute approximately £24,000 worth of heroin each month from her council flat, known as ‘Fortress Haney’ or ‘Haney’s hotel’.
This was in addition to the £1,200 she received monthly in state benefits.
Margaret ‘Big Mags’ Haney was raking in around £24,000 a month through selling heroin, on top of £1,200 monthly in state benefits
The Scottish mother and grandmother was known publicly for campaigning against pedophiles – but in private, she was a drug queenpin
Revealed initially by an undercover journalist, she was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2003 after being found guilty of orchestrating a substantial heroin trafficking operation in Stirling.
She was not alone.
Three other members of the Haney clan were arrested on drug charges, before being tried at the High Court in Edinburgh.
All involved received prison sentences. As Judge Lady Smith identified Big Mags as the mastermind behind the heroin scheme, she was handed the longest sentence of 12 years.
Meanwhile, Mags’ 35-year-old daughter Diane was sentenced to nine years and her 31-year-old son Hugh to five years. Her niece Roseann, 40, was sentenced to seven years.
Mags’ granddaughter, and Diane’s daughter, Cassie was just 10-years-old at the time.
She told the BBC: ‘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”.
Mags rose to prominence after appearing on the popular daytime TV show Kilroy, where she discussed her anti-pedophile activism
The gangster is pictured (left) handcuffed to her daughter Diane (pictured, centre) while attending court
‘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 how controversial the podcast is, Cassie added that she feels ‘like we owe it to [Mag] to tell her story’.
She added that it is possible for two things to be true, and that while Mags did sell drugs that may have killed people, that didn’t mean she wasn’t a good grandmother and person.
Speaking about the new series, journalist Myles Bonnar, who explores the life of the clan figurehead said it would look at Mag’s life, as well as looking at wider social issues.
He added: ‘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.’
The granddaughter of Big Mags (pictured) said that while the matriarch was a drug dealer, she was also a good grandparent
And a spokesperson for BBC Scotland added: ‘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.
However, it has been extremely controversial in some quarters.
Murdo Fraser, Scottish Conservative shadow business, economy, tourism and culture secretary said that the broadcaster’s decision to give airtime to a woman who used her celebrity status to cover up a major heroin operation will raise eyebrows.
He added: ‘Many taxpayers will question why their license fee is going towards platforming this controversial figure, particularly at a time when BBC budgets are squeezed.’
Crime Next Door: The Ballad of Big Mags podcast is available on BBC Sounds now.
