A year after workmen first smashed into Jimmy Savile’s remote Highland lair, the hated cottage remains standing in Glencoe, now a burned-out, graffiti-covered wreck that locals say is worse than ever.
The pink-painted ruin of Allt-na-Reigh, where the serial predator abused at least five victims, has become a magnet for vandals and arsonists since demolition mysteriously stopped just days after it started in February 2025.
Locals are furious. They believed the nightmare was finally ending when diggers arrived exactly one year ago. Instead, the site has been left open to the elements and to every firebug and spray-can idiot who makes the journey up the narrow track.
What Actually Happened One Year Ago
On 17 February 2025, contractors working for the current owners, the family of retired GP Dr Rachel Harris, began stripping the roof and interior fittings. Photos from that week showed the infamous pink exterior already scarred and windows smashed.
By the end of the month, everything stopped.
No explanation was ever given. The Highland Council confirmed planning permission and listed-building consent were still valid, meaning work could restart tomorrow if anyone wanted it to.
One local who lives within sight of the cottage told the Record: “We were cheering when the diggers turned up. A year on and it’s just a bigger mess. Kids come up from the villages at night, set fires, spray the most vile messages. It’s disgusting.”
Vandalism Has Made It Ten Times Worse
Since work halted, the cottage has suffered repeated attacks.
Fluorescent green and orange graffiti now covers every wall. Words too obscene to print here are scrawled across what was once Savile’s bedroom.
In December 2025, arsonists set fire to the ground floor. Fire crews from Kinlochleven had to battle through snow to reach the remote site.
Another blaze in January 2026 caused serious damage to the upper floor. Police are treating both fires as deliberate.
Tourists still stop to take selfies despite warning signs put up by police. Some leave flowers for Savile’s victims. Others leave sick “tributes” to the monster himself.
Why Has Nothing Been Done?
The Harris family bought Allt-na-Reigh in 2021 specifically to erase it from the landscape. They spent four years fighting planning battles and won permission to demolish in 2023.
Dr Harris said at the time: “This building should never have been allowed to stand after what happened here. We want the land returned to nature.”
Yet a full year after work began, the family has gone silent. Neighbours say no one has visited the site since last spring.
Sources close to the project say costs spiralled once asbestos was discovered and structural surveys revealed the building was in far worse condition than expected.
Others claim the family simply lost heart when faced with the reality of destroying a place soaked in such evil.
The Human Cost Keeps Growing
Victim support groups say every month the cottage stands is another insult to those Savile abused.
One woman who was attacked at Allt-na-Reigh as a teenager in the 1970s contacted the Record to say: “I drive past it sometimes. Seeing it still there makes my stomach turn. Just knock it down. Please.”
Walkers on the West Highland Way report seeing people openly crying at the sight of the building. Some leave handwritten notes nailed to what’s left of the door.
Mountain rescue teams say they have been called three times in the past year to help distressed visitors who stumbled upon the cottage unexpectedly.
The eyesore now dominates one of the most photographed views in Scotland, the dramatic entrance to Glencoe where thousands stop daily at the Three Sisters viewpoint.
This is no longer just about one evil man’s house. It has become a national embarrassment in one of our most precious landscapes.
A year of broken promises has turned hope into anger. Locals who once thanked the Harris family now just want someone, anyone, to finish the job.
Until the last stone is buried and the ground reseeded, Glencoe will never fully heal from the stain Jimmy Savile left behind.
What do you think should happen to the site? Should the Scottish Government step in and demolish it themselves if the owners won’t? Drop your thoughts below.
