'Extraordinary depravity' of devil mask child sex abuse ring
A gang guilty of abusing children after a trial believed to have been the largest prosecution of a child abuse ring in Scotland have been told they face "very substantial” jail terms for “extraordinary depravity”.
Five men and three women terrified four children, all under the age of 13, with devil masks and introduced to a world of drugs and alcohol, before exposed to sexual abuse and violence. The offences included rape and attempted murder. Judge Lord Beckett delayed their sentencing today but told them: “All the sex offences are of extreme gravity and accompanied for some of you by attempted murder."
He said the “common denominator” was the abuse of a “very young child”, which all the defendants except one of the defendants was guilty of. Eleven people went on trial, with three - two men and a woman - acquitted after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Seven were convicted of committing sexual abuse, including rape, and four were found guilty of attempting to murder a young girl by trapping her in various places including a cupboard. Some of the victims were abused in a Glasgow drugs den where heroin and crack cocaine were used.
Iain Owens, 45, Elaine Lannery, 39, Lesley Williams, 41, and Paul Brannan, 41 were found guilty of attempting to murder a baby girl, who was put in a microwave, forced to eat dog food, and hung by her clothes from a nail, as well as being chased by people wearing a devil mask, on occasions between December 2015 and June 2019.
Iain Owens (Police Scotland)
Elaine Lannery (Police Scotland)
Lesley Williams (James Chapelard)
Paul Brannan (Police Scotland)Three child complainants made allegations that originally related to witchcraft but developed to include child sex abuse, including rape and attempted murder, the High Court in Glasgow heard. The court heard two girls and a boy were violently and sexually assaulted on multiple occasions between 2012 and 2019, and members of the group used Class A drugs in front of the children and caused them to consume alcohol and drugs.
Man in 30s dies after being stabbed in park sparking police probe
One of the children said in evidence: “Two witches holded my legs down, it felt uncomfortable, all the witches and wizards were watching.” The Crown said it would have been “off the scale devious” to concoct the allegations. An allegation that the accused used an Ouija board to “call on spirits and demons” causing the child victims to “believe that they could see, hear and communicate with spirits and demons” and making them take part in “witchcraft” was dropped.
Barry Watson (Police Scotland)
John Clarke (Police Scotland)
Scott Forbes (Police Scotland)
Marianne Gallagher (PA)Seven defendants - Owens, Lannery, Williams, Brannan, Barry Watson, 47, Scott Forbes, 50 and John Clark, 46, - were all found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow of rape and sexual assault. The charges against them included making children perform sex acts on each other, serious sexual assault, rape and neglect. An eighth accused, Marianne Gallagher, 38, who was found guilty of assault was told today that she would not be sentenced on Tuesday, January 9, with the the rest of the convicted gang members, with her sentencing instead deferred for a year.
Speaking to the defendants Judge Lord Beckett told them: “Some of you have been convicted of sexually abusing three children and some of two children. The common denominator was the repeated sexual assault of a very young child, payment was sought and accepted, some of the events were filmed. This extraordinary depravity was repeated on a number of occasions.
“All the sex offences are of extreme gravity and accompanied for some of you by attempted murder. I think particularly of the children in this case and those who care or support them. The whole community may justifiably feel an urgent need for resolution of this case. The court must apply the law. I have thought long and hard about this case.”
He said a risk assessment will be carried out before sentencing to assess if an order for lifelong restriction should be imposed. That monitors high-risk offenders for the rest of their lives if deemed suitable for release from prison after serving a minimum punishment period. The criteria will look at if the abusers would potentially “seriously endanger the lives or physical or psychological wellbeing of the public at large”.
Lord Beckett added: “It appears to me in the case of each of you may be such there is a likelihood that if at liberty there is a risk you will seriously endanger the lives or physical or psychological wellbeing of the public at large, particularly young children. You are not all in the same position. You should understand that each of you faces a very substantial prison sentence.”
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
