Raploch

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Raploch is a district of the city of Stirling to the south of the River Forth in central Scotland.

The first houses were built in the late 17th century, after the land had been sold by the Earl of Mar to the patrons of Cowane's Hospital in Stirling. Economic conditions led to stagnation but housing began again in earnest at the start of the 19th century.

The real expansion came in the middle of the 20th century, when council housing replaced decrepit housing in the old town.

Mags Haney, head of a noted drug-dealing clan in the Stirling area, was a Raploch resident until her imprisonment at Cornton Vale in 2003, where she remains convicted with her daughter. Also known as "Big Mags" she was convicted of running the largest heroin empire in Stirling, on a barter basis, with junkies stealing goods to order to be traded for drugs at the "Haney Hilton" this was a large council housing building the clan forcibly took over, demolishing many internal walls to create a large dwelling.^[1]

Mags Haney was the real life basis for the matriarchal "Mo Harris" character in BBC soap Eastenders^{[citation needed]}, after she shot to fame for her tough vigilante style stance on paedophiles in the Raploch.

It is reported that a common shoplifting technique used the dead drop of spy fiction fame, stolen goods would be taken from the Thistle Centre and the shop lifters would run to the train station where they would place the goods in a left luggage locker, texting the pin key to an accomplice who would later pick it up at their leisure. The thieves would then get on the next available train, free from any incriminating evidence.

This system was identified and defeated by co-operation between Central Scotland Police and Scotrail by the removal of the luggage lockers and increased CCTV at the listed station.

The increased terrorist threat was also a factor in the removal of the lockers, and is the reason there are no bins.