Eric Cullen

He was born to a single mother and was adopted by a family from Hamilton. He was diagnosed with achondroplasia at the age of seven.

Cullen began acting when he was at school. He started to find roles appearing in several theatre groups before appearing in several Scottish TV programmes in the 1980s, particularly A Kick Up the Eighties.{{cite web|author=Anthony Hayward |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituaryeric-cullen-1310071.html |title=Obituary:Eric Cullen - Obituaries - News |work=The Independent |date=1996-08-17 |accessdate=2013-11-24}} Cullen eventually found lasting fame playing the youngest son, Wee Burney, in the first three series of Rab C. Nesbitt. However, he left the programme in December 1993 owing to personal problems and ill health.{{cite web|author=Friday 30 June 1995 |url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/i-know-what-it-is-to-scream-for-mercy-but-never-to-receive-any-1.673467 |title=I know what it is to scream for mercy but never to receive any |publisher=Herald Scotland |date=1995-06-30 |accessdate=2013-11-24}}

Cullen was sexually abused by a violent paedophile ring from the age of thirteen,{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} and since his condition meant that he looked much younger than he was, this abuse continued into his twenties. Once he became a successful actor, his abusers returned to extort money with menaces. As a result, he developed clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Cullen was arrested in 1993 for possession of child pornography. In 1995, Cullen was convicted of child pornography offences, and his own history of being sexually abused since the age of 13 - and throughout his 20s - was revealed. He explained he been blackmailed into storing child pornography at his home by his abusers—a claim accepted by the Crown. He pled guilty in 1995 to a number of minor charges to avoid a potentially harrowing trial. Another adult victim of the same paedophile ring informed Strathclyde Police that the gang had stored extreme child pornography in the houses of various terrorized victims, including himself and Eric.{{cite web |title=APPENDIX 125 Memorandum submitted by Claire M Jordan: on behalf of the late Eric Cullen |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmcumeds/458/458w126.htm |publisher=UK House of Commons |access-date=20 September 2024}} 18px Text was copied from this source, which is available under the [https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright-parliament/open-parliament-licence/ Open Parliament Licence v3.0]. © UK Parliament.

The subsequent police investigation and press coverage resulted in clinical depression when he "finally cracked under a load which had become unbearable".[http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12099032.The_Eric_Cullen_case_revealed_the_actor_apos_s_disturbing_history___A_victim_of_abuse_and_success/ The Herald 30 June 1995 The Eric Cullen case revealed the actor's disturbing history. A victim of abuse and success] His nine-month prison sentence was reduced to three years' probation on appeal.

Cullen later said: "At no time was I ever accused of child abuse. Yes, I did have those indecent videos in my house. But what was never clearly explained to the public was that I was being blackmailed into keeping them by one of my abusers, and my lawyer advised me to plead guilty to these charges because physically and mentally I couldn't have stood up to a long intense court case. The only time I ever saw those horrific videos was in Hamilton police station, when I was identifying my abuser."{{cn|date=September 2024}}

As soon as his prison sentence had been squashed on appeal, he began to be offered acting parts again, but he was still too ill with severe PTSD to resume work.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

Once the court case was out of the way Cullen dedicated himself to campaigning against child pornography, and to trying to bring his abusers to justice.{{cite web|author= |url= http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/more-sinned-against-than-sinner-1.673471 |title= More sinned against than sinner|publisher= Herald Scotland |date= 30 June 1995|accessdate=2013-11-25}} Of the three men he named as his principal abusers one, Francis Currens, was jailed during Cullen's lifetime; one, Cullen's uncle Jack Williams, was jailed after his death (both of them for sexual offences including the repeated rape of young boys);{{cite web|author= |url= http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/wee-burney-s-uncle-awaits-sentence-after-pleading-guilty-to-assaults-on-three-boys-sex-crimes-admission-1.350553 |title= Wee Burney's uncle awaits sentence after pleading guilty to assaults on three boys Sex crimes admission|publisher= Herald Scotland |date= 13 March 1998|accessdate=2013-11-25}} and as of summer 2006 one, whom Cullen named as the ringleader, has never been prosecuted.

In an interview with the Big Issues, given a week before his death, Linda McGarvie writes: "If I die tomorrow," he said, "I want to be remembered not for being a professional victim, but for standing up against my abusers."{{cn|date=September 2024}}

"When I'm gone," he joked, adopting a high theatrical accent, "all the luvvies who dropped me so quickly will come out and say what a darling I was."{{cn|date=September 2024}}

Only a day or two before his fatal heart attack, which followed on from surgery for a twisted bowel, he had been asked to take up the role of Wee Burney again. He was however in two minds as to whether to resume his acting career or become a clinical psychologist specialising in the treatment of abuse victims; he already had a BA in psychology, and had been accepted to begin a more advanced course in forensic psychology that autumn.

• Huntingtower
• Playfair
• The Camerons
• Govan Ghost Story
• Deathwatch
• A Kick Up the Eighties
• Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee
• Scotch & Wry
• Out With the Old (1993) (STV's Hogmanay Show)
• Rab C Nesbitt

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0191464|name=Eric Cullen}}
• [https://www.thefreelibrary.com/WEE+BURNEY+...THE+VILE+TRUTH%3B+He+filmed+himself+copying+Children%27s...-a062908070 "Wee Burney - The Vile Truth"] - 2000 Sunday Mail article which reports a claim that although Eric Cullen "was the victim of horrific and sustained abuse" he "crossed the line and became an abuser himself".

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Category:1965 births

Category:1996 deaths

Category:Actors with dwarfism

Category:Scottish male television actors

Category:Scottish male comedians

Category:20th-century Scottish male actors

Category:20th-century Scottish comedians

Category:Scottish people with disabilities

Category:Male actors from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire