Former nuns and retired support worker punished for cruelty in children’s homes

Thursday 15 January 2026 

Two former nuns and a retired support worker have been sentenced for abusing vulnerable children at Catholic-run care homes in Scotland more than four decades ago.

Carol Buirds, 75, Eileen McElhinney, 78, and Dorothy Kane, 68, were convicted of subjecting children to cruel and unnatural treatment at Nazareth House homes in Lasswade, Midlothian, and Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, between 1972 and 1981. The homes were operated by the Sisters of Nazareth.

During a five-week trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last year, jurors heard harrowing evidence of sustained physical and emotional abuse inflicted on children aged between five and 14 at the time.

Buirids, who was known as Sister Carmel Rose, was found to have carried out the most serious abuse. The court heard she repeatedly assaulted children, punching and kicking them, striking them with belts, wooden rulers and sticks, and banging their heads against walls. She also forced soap and food into children’s mouths, rubbed urine-soaked bedding on them, locked children in cupboards and unlit cellars without water, and forced them to sit in cold baths.

Sentencing her to 15 months in prison, Sheriff Iain Nicol described the offences as among the worst examples of cruelty presented to the court, noting that some victims were severely injured. He said several continue to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and other long-term mental health conditions, with some having experienced suicidal thoughts and lengthy hospitalisation.

Despite the convictions, the sheriff said Buirds had shown “no remorse whatsoever” and continues to deny wrongdoing.

McElhinney, formerly known as Sister Mary Eileen, was convicted of violently assaulting children, forcing them to stand in cold showers or sit in cold baths, and striking them with objects including a hairbrush and a metal comb. Sheriff Nicol said her actions caused suffering and injury but noted there had been no evidence of offending in the past 45 to 50 years.

McElhinney, of Bishopbriggs in East Dunbartonshire, was sentenced to a 12-month probation order, 240 hours of unpaid work, and a nine-month restriction confining her to her home between 4pm and midnight.

Kane, a former support worker, was convicted of repeatedly restraining a boy by grabbing him, including by the hair, and pinning him down with her knees on his chest. She was also found to have locked a child in a cupboard and failed to intervene when another staff member assaulted a child.

Kane, of Lasswade, Midlothian, was given a community service order requiring her to complete 150 hours of unpaid work within nine months.

Sheriff Nicol described the victim impact statements as “harrowing reading” and praised the victims’ “bravery and fortitude” in coming forward decades after the abuse occurred.

Faith Currie, procurator fiscal for Lothian and Borders at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said the abuse was never acceptable.

“The offenders were entrusted with the care of vulnerable children,” she said, “but instead betrayed that trust and inflicted lasting harm through their criminal actions.”