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The Cruelty podcast artwork
True Crime

The Cruelty

by BBC Radio Scotland
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Latest episodes

  • 8. Truth in the Shadows

    July 18, 2025 · 33 min

    Davie returns to the Unknown Bairn’s grave to address unfinished business with the family who found the boy’s body. And does a leaked report commissioned by the Scottish Government, offer hope of some form of restitution for the failures…

  • 7. Strathmartine

    July 11, 2025 · 35 min

    Davie visits Strathmartine Hospital, a now derelict facility, where removed Traveller and non -Traveller children were sent and often never left. Davie needs to find out: what went on behind those walls?

  • 6. Alexander and Sandy

    July 4, 2025 · 42 min

    Davie receives a text message that changes so much of what he thought he knew about the Unknown Bairn and the boy he believed him to be. As a new investigation gets underway, a different story emerges.

  • 5. Cutting the Roots

    June 27, 2025 · 29 min

    Bella is a young Scottish Traveller. Through the generations, her family has been broken apart by social services. She explains to Davie how she’s fought to keep her daughter from being taken into care and, in the process, been forced to…

  • 4. Paper Children

    June 20, 2025 · 25 min

    Rosanne McPhee’s dad joked about volunteering to be measured by a Nazi racial scientist because he knew each time his head was measured he would receive a shilling. Davie discovers this was just a part of a wider Nazi Eugenic Policy, which…

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  • 3. Finland

    June 13, 2025 · 30 min

    In Helsinki, Davie meets former members of a Roma children’s home once visited by William Webb. He discovers the forced assimilation of Roma and Travellers in Finland mirrors much of what happened to Scottish Travellers. Then, in the…

  • 2. Fear and Sacrifice

    June 6, 2025 · 37 min

    Suspicion falls on William Webb, a Chaplain from The Church of Scotland. His “Cruelty Van” would arrive at Scottish Traveller camps and take children from their families. Then, Davie’s trip to Leeds turns up clear evidence of the actors…

  • 1. Truth and Half Truths

    May 30, 2025 · 37 min

    The Unknown Bairn’s siblings tell Davie frightening stories that motivate him to look into the disappearance - and forced removal - of Traveller children. And as yet more Travellers come forward, Davie starts to question the scale of the…

  • Introducing - The Cruelty - Stolen Generations

    May 23, 2025 · 3 min

    In 2021, Davie Donaldson sought to solve the long-standing mystery of the Unknown Bairn, a young boy whose body washed up on a Scottish beach and was never claimed. Since that time, a number of Scottish Travellers have contacted him with…

  • 3. Lucky Scalp

    September 28, 2022 · 26 min

    No one knew where The Unknown Bairn washed in from. Did he come from out of the sea, perhaps as far afield as the Netherlands or did he enter the water upstream in the River Tay. Presenter: Davie Donaldson Producer: Kate Bissell, BBC…

  • 2. The Couple on the Bus

    September 28, 2022 · 23 min

    Davie meets a former detective who worked on the case, but has since made claims in the press about the identity of the Unknown Bairn. Presenter: Davie Donaldson Producer: Kate Bissell, BBC Scotland Productions. Researchers: Rachael…

  • 1. The Memorial

    September 28, 2022 · 18 min

    Davie Donaldson begins his investigation into the case of the Unknown Bairn. At the memorial service he hears about a lead which has never been followed up. Presenter: Davie Donaldson Producer: Kate Bissell, BBC Scotland Productions…

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About the show

In 2021, Davie Donaldson sought to solve the long-standing mystery of the Unknown Bairn, a young boy whose body washed up on a Scottish beach and was never claimed. Since that time, a number of Scottish Travellers have contacted him with stories of children being forcibly removed from their families. This becomes the catalyst for Davie's investigation into why this happened and whether it was sanctioned by the church and state. Along the way, the mystery that began it all re-enters Davies' life, taking him to a truth that's been hidden in the shadows for too long.