Published by Robert L Senior Reporter on Monday 27th January 2025, at 17:45hrs
The offences involving three children happened between 2012 and 2019
Seven people convicted of being part of a Scottish child abuse ring that plumbed “the depths of human depravity” have been jailed for terms ranging from eight to twenty years.
The five men and two women will be monitored for life after being convicted of gang-raping a child and abusing other children in a drugs den in Glasgow where heroin and crack cocaine were used.
Iain Owens, 46; Elaine Lannery, 40; Lesley Williams, 43; Paul Brannan, 42; Scott Forbes, 51; Barry Watson, 48; and John Clark, 48, were convicted in November 2023 after a trial at Glasgow high court.
Owens, Lannery, Brannan and Williams were found guilty of attempting to murder a child by pushing her into a microwave and trapping her in other places.
Sentencing was delayed until December while risk assessments were carried out, which the judge, Lord Beckett, had ordered because of the severity of the crimes.
The trial, which lasted for about eight weeks, heard evidence of systematic child sexual abuse that Beckett described as harrowing and said “plunges to the depths of human depravity”.
He previously said he was considering orders for lifelong restriction, which monitor high-risk offenders for the rest of their lives if they are deemed suitable for release from prison after serving a minimum punishment period.
The offences, involving three children, happened between 2012 and 2019.
Owens, Lannery, Brannan, Williams, Forbes, Watson and Clark were found guilty of taking part in the gang-rape of a child.
Owens and Lannery were also convicted of various counts of assault, sexual assault, rape and causing a child to ingest drugs and alcohol.
Owens and Lannery were jailed for 20 and 17 years respectively.
Brannan was convicted of attempted murder, sexual assault, rape and supplying class A drugs. He was jailed for 15 years.
Williams was convicted of attempted murder, assault, rape and supplying drugs. She was sentenced to 14 years.
Forbes was found guilty of rape, and Watson and Clark of rape and sexual assault.
Clark was jailed for 10 years, Watson for nine years and six months and Forbes for eight years.
Prosecutors dropped an allegation during the trial that the accused had used a 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.
Co-accused Marianne Gallagher, 40, was found guilty of assaulting a child and was admonished when she appeared for sentencing on 6 January.
In sparing her punishment, Beckett told her she would be in “pretty severe trouble” if she committed further offences.
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