Two former nuns and retired support worker sentenced for abuse at children's homes

Two former nuns and a retired support worker have been convicted of abusing vulnerable young people at children’s homes more than 40 years ago.

Carol Buirds, 75, Eileen McElhinney, 78, and Dorothy Kane, 68, were found guilty of subjecting multiple victims to cruel and unnatural treatment between 1972 and 1981.

The offences took place at two homes in Lasswade and Kilmarnock, both run by the Catholic order The Sisters of Nazareth.

Following a five-week trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Buirds – known as Sister Carmel Rose – was found guilty of 13 charges, including assault to severe injury.

The 75-year-old’s offences included rubbing urine-soaked bedding on children and forcing food and soap into their mouths.

She also locked one child in a cupboard and another in an unlit cellar without access to water and was found to have repeatedly assaulted children, often using implements such as a belt, a wooden ruler, and a stick.

McElhinney, 78, who was known as Sister Mary Eileen, was found guilty of five charges, including assault.

As well as violently assaulting young children, she also forced them to stand in cold showers and sit in cold baths.

She used a hairbrush to hit one child on the buttocks and hurt another with a metal comb, refusing to stop brushing his hair despite him being in pain.

Kane, 68, was found guilty of two charges of cruel and unnatural treatment for repeatedly grabbing a boy, including by the hair, and restraining him by forcing her knees onto his chest.

She also failed to intervene when witnessing another member of staff assaulting the child and forced a second young person into a cupboard before locking him in.

The victims, who are all now adults, were aged between five and 14 when the abuse began.

A number of stands of evidence were presented to the court, including verbal accounts from former residents, an ex-staff member and a social worker.

The three women were sentenced at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on January 15.

Buirds, of Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, was jailed for 15 months.

McElhinney, of Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, was made subject to a 12-month Probation Order and ordered to perform 240 hours of unpaid work.

She was also ordered to remain within her home address between the hours of 4pm and midnight for nine months.

Kane, of Lasswade, Midlothian, was given a Community Service Order with a requirement to complete 150 hours of unpaid work with nine months.

Faith Currie, procurator fiscal for Lothian and Borders at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: “Carol Buirds, Eileen McElhinney and Dorothy Kane were entrusted with the care of vulnerable children, but instead they betrayed that trust and inflicted lasting harm through their criminal actions.

“It is now a matter of public record that they gravely breached their duty of care while holding positions of trust and authority at Nazareth House.

“Although these offences took place decades ago, such abuse has never been acceptable and should never have happened.

“The charge of cruel and unnatural treatment reflects the sustained and systematic nature of this abuse over an extended period.

“Scotland’s prosecutors remain fully committed to bringing non-recent child abuse cases before the courts, no matter how much time has passed since these crimes were committed.”