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Lawrence Haggart

There is a suspicion that certain violent 'child sexual abusers' are given an easy time by the criminal justice system.

Think of Jimmy Savile or Marc Dutroux, both of whom the authorities were reluctant to arrest, presumably because they had friends in high places.

(The Who’s who of Satanic Child Abuse - Christopher Spivey)

On 16 March 1996, 15 year old Lawrence Haggart was brutally attacked and set alight in his home in Scotland, not far from Dunblane.

He died in hospital the next day.

On 17 March 1996, the frequently convicted paedophile and arsonist Brian Beattie, who lived nearby, was questioned by the police.


Strangely, there appear to be no pictures on the internet of Beattie.

Beattie had a long history of going into houses and sexually attacking boys, and a long history of using violence and setting things alight.

However, Beattie was released after claiming he had been in Edinburgh.

The police failed to check his uncorroborated alibi.

And the police switched their attention elsewhere.

The Murder of Lawrence Haggart, 1996 - The Celtic WikiIncidents, Events and Controversies | About Celtic


Lawrence's funeral.

In May 1998, it was reported that an independent inquiry into the police handling of the Lawrence Haggart case was to be carried out by James Mackay, the assistant chief constable of Tayside Police.

Details of his report were not made public.

However,  under the Freedom of Information Act, a copy of 'much of the document' was obtained.

The report refers to a catalogue of blunders made by investigating officers, including:

1. Faking entries in an official diary of the murder inquiry.

2. Contaminating the crime scene.

3. Destroying evidence.

4. Losing a possible murder weapon.

Sections of the report dealing with an alleged criminal probe against murder squad officers has not been released.

The Murder of Lawrence Haggart, 1996 - The Celtic WikiIncidents, Events and Controversies | About Celtic



The suspects in the case were Dennis Haggart, the 12 year old brother of Lawrence, and Brian Beattie, a known child abuser who lived nearby.

A report was sent to the Crown Office saying there was circumstantial evidence to link Dennis Haggart to the attack.

Detective Sgt Alan Stewart had said that he had evidence that Dennis committed the crime.

The initial police team was led by Det Supt Jim Winning, head of Central Scotland CID.

The team's theory was that Dennis had bludgeoned his brother to death.

After many months, Dennis's father complained about the lack of progress being made in the case.

At the end of 1996, Supt Joe Holden replaced Winning.

The change of police staff led to Brian Beattie becoming the central suspect.

The Murder of Lawrence Haggart, 1996 - The Celtic WikiIncidents, Events and Controversies | About Celtic



The police lacked evidence.

Both the scorched couch and the badly burned carpet, at the site of the crime, had been disposed of soon after the murder, with the agreement of the police.

They had not been subjected to any detailed forensic examination.

Supt Holden's team was left with a series of photographs and a hair found in Lawrence Haggart's underpants.

Forensic tests in Scotland and at the FBI laboratory in Washington showed that the hair came from Lawrence.

The police had no explanation from Beattie about Lawrence's palms each of which bore the number 110 written in ink.

Photographs showed the same number 'gouged' in his shoulder, apparently using a mortice key.


Beattie was brought up in Airth, Stirlingshire.

He began his criminal life at the age of 11.

He spent his early years in a succession of schools and institutions for difficult children.

When his mother moved to Redcar, in Teesside, Brian Beattie broke into four homes belonging to elderly widows, stole valuables and set fire to their houses.

In 1984, Beattie was sentenced to seven years for breaking into premises and for arson.

While in custody, Beattie set fire to his prison cell and attempted suicide by setting fire to himself.


After his release in 1988, Beattie moved back to Airth, in Stirlingshire, and in November that year carried out a series of attacks.

Beattie would sneak into houses in the middle of the night, after watching for signs that boys lived there.

His first victim was a 14-year-old Stenhousemuir boy, but he struggled free and Beattie ran off.

In August 1990, a 17-year-old boy sleeping in his home at Falkirk woke to find Beattie holding a pair of scissors at his stomach.

Beattie carried out a number of sexual assaults on the boy.

The victim remembers Beattie as being "calm, controlled and relaxed".


Three weeks later, Beattie carried out a similar attack on 21-year-old Lawrence Kane while his parents and older brother slept in other rooms in their Stenhousemuir home.

Lawrence said: "I can remember waking up and he had his hand over my privates and a knife in my belly. He said if I moved he would slash me.

"I managed to push him off me and chased him out of the room..."


Strangely, there appear to be no pictures on the internet of Beattie.

Beattie struck again in October - with two attacks in five days.

He sneaked into a house in Larbert and threatened to kill an 18-year-old boy with a screwdriver before sexually assaulting him.

Then he struck at the home of a former Scotland football star and attacked his 14-year-old son.

The victim said: "Basically he had a strict routine with all the attacks and the last time he went a step further and ended up killing this boy. I was one of the lucky ones."



Beattie was eventually arrested in connection with some of these incidents but was released on bail at Falkirk Sheriff Court.

Six days later, he carried out an assault on a 20-year- old Falkirk man.

In February 1991, he was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh to 18 months for the assaults but served only eight months.


Strangely, there appear to be no pictures on the internet of Beattie.

In 1992, Beattie appeared in court on a charge of abducting a 16-year-old boy from his bedroom.

The 16-year-old victim woke at 3am to find Beattie, who had been released from jail four days earlier, standing over his bed.

He covered the boy's face with a blanket and, after warning him that he had a knife, tied his wrists with a shirt and wire. 

The half-dressed boy was forced from his home with a T-shirt over his head.

 Beattie fled after his victim managed to pull the shirt off and saw his attacker.

Beattie was jailed but released 'on licence' in 1994.

In May 1998, a court in Scotland found Brian Beattie guilty of the 1996 murder of 15 year old Lawrence Haggart.

The jury returned a majority guilty verdict.


The Curious Case of the Clown Persecution Service, and the summary Quis Custodiet Custodes?, which sets out the bizarre and suspect behaviour of Strathclyde Police and their continuing refusal to act against a known serial rapist preying on children in the Glasgow area.

Chief Inspector Jim Winning led the initial murder inquiry.

He retired on health grounds.

He was excused from giving evidence on medical grounds.

It was reported that Winning would escape possible disciplinary proceedings through early retirement on health grounds.

Mike Currie, depute chief constable of Central Scotland police, said that the Haggart family should have received a much better performance from the police.

The Murder of Lawrence Haggart, 1996 - The Celtic WikiIncidents, Events and Controversies | About Celtic


Strangely, there appear to be no pictures on the internet of Beattie.

In 1999, Brian Beattie appealed against his conviction.

Beattie alleged that his trial judge Lord Dawson made crucial mistakes in his handling of the case in 1998.

Beattie lost his appeal.

MURDER MYSTERY - LAWRENCE HAGGART - PART ONE.

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