- Sentenced: Two former nuns, one retired support worker.
- Court: Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Thursday sentencing.
- Victims: Vulnerable youth at Scottish children’s homes.
- Timeframe: Abuse over 40 years ago, 1970s-1980s.
- Homes: Nazareth House facilities in Scotland.
Edinburgh (Edinburgh Daily News) January 15, 2026 – An Edinburgh court sentenced three people over historic abuse of vulnerable children in Scottish care homes.
Dorothy Kane, 68, of Lasswade, Midlothian, Carol Buirds, 75, and Eileen McElhinney, 78, were preliminarily condemned for treating numerous victims cruelly and constitutionally between 1972 and 1981. Homes in Lasswade and Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, as well as an unidentified hearthstone in Dunbar, East Lothian, were the spots of the horrifying crimes.
Verbal testaments from former residents, anex-staff member, and a social worker were among the several pieces of substantiation produced by the execution.
She was ashamed of shoving food and cleaner into children’s mouths and smearing urine- soaked robes on them.
Also, she locked one youth in a cupboard and another in a dark basement without water. Also, it was discovered that she constantly used tools including a stick, a rustic sovereign , and a belt to beat youths.
Family Mary Eileen, also known as McElhinney, was condemned on five counts, including assault.
She not only physically abused youthful children but also made them sit in frigid cataracts and stand in icy showers.
She struck one child on the buttocks with a toothbrush and injured another with an essence comb, continuing to brush his hair indeed though he was in pain.
For repeatedly snatching the kid, including by his hair, support worker Kane was found guilty on two counts of cruel treatment.
Also, she forced an alternate youthful person into a cupboard before locking him in and did nothing to stop another staff member from abusing the child.
In a 2023 police interrogation captured on video by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), Kane refutes every accusation made against her by the officers.
She answers “no” to most inquiries about whether she participated in or witnessed abuse of young kids when she was at Nazareth House, and she can be seen with her head down the entire time.
The abuse started when the victims, who are all now adults, were between five and fourteen years old.
On Thursday, January 15, all three women received sentences at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Kane received a Community Service Order that required him to perform 150 hours of unpaid labor over the course of nine months.
Buirds, a resident of Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, spent 15 months behind bars.
Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire resident McElhinney was placed under a 12-month probationary order and required to complete 240 hours of unpaid labor.
Additionally, she was mandated to stay at her residence between 4 p.m. and midnight for 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.”
Are there appeals planned by the convicted women?
No specific prayers have been blazoned or reported by Carol Buirds, Eileen McElhinney, or Dorothy Kane following their January 15, 2026, sentencing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Scottish law allows 14 days from sentencing to note an appeal against conviction or judgment via the High Court of Justiciary, placing the deadline around January 29 given the case’s recency. No forms or intentions were mentioned in court reports, Crown statements, or survivor advocacy updates.
Defence agents concentrated post-trial on mitigation( e.g., age/ health for McElhinney’s non-custodial judgment ), suggesting acceptance rather than challenge; major abuse persuasions infrequently succeed on appeal absent fresh substantiation or procedural crimes, which prosecutors supposed robust then.
