Three life sentences for woman who held child abuse parties
Victims passed around like toys and used as ‘prizes’
A WOMAN who masterminded an utterly depraved sex abuse ring in which children were passed around ‘like toys’ was jailed for life yesterday.
Marie Black, 34, organised parties in which the two boys and three girls were treated as ‘sexual playthings’ by adults, who used card games to see which one they would abuse.
There was evidence they were ‘raffled for abuse’ during their ten-year ordeal and made to have sex with one another.
Black sobbed uncontrollably as she received three life sentences at Norwich Crown Court. Judge Nicholas Coleman said it was the ‘most harrowing’ case he had ever heard and imposed a tariff of 24 years in jail. Despite that, he said Black can apply for parole after 12 years.
The former insurance worker, who denied any wrongdoing, had been found guilty of 23 offences including rape, conspiracy to rape and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
Judge Coleman told her: ‘This case is the most harrowing it has been my misfortune to try. I and the jurors had to listen to the truly gruesome detail of what took place. Your conduct towards these
‘Your conduct was utterly depraved’
children can only be described as utterly depraved – the children were subjected to sexual abuse of the worst kind. They were simply passed around like toys.’
Two of Black’s former partners, hospital porter Jason Adams, 44, and coach driver Michael Rogers, 46, were both jailed for 24 years and will serve a minimum of 16. They also denied any wrongdoing but were convicted of 27 charges between them including abuse.
Police said all three had been convicted of specimen counts – meaning the actual number of incidents of abuse was likely to be far higher and could run into the hundreds. Out of seven other defendants – one an 85-year-old woman – only one was convicted of an offence and that was for assault causing actual bodily harm to one of the children.
The children, who were abused in homes in Norwich and London, told police that Black and Adams would take photos and laugh. One male victim said: ‘There would be parties and they would do some games where the boys were in one room with the men and the girls were in another with the women.
‘The adults would have a card game and the winner would get to choose a boy to start touching their private parts and then hurt them afterwards.’
The assaults went on for so long that the five youngsters involved thought such behaviour was normal. Toys, such as Barbie dolls, featured in the abuse. The children were rewarded with certificates at the parties with slogans such as ‘secrets are good’ and ‘do not tell anyone’.
Black met Adams, from Norwich, through a lonely hearts advert in a newspaper and they married in 2002. The abuse began shortly after the start of the relationship. They split up in 2008 and within months she had met Michael Rogers, of Romford, Essex, through an internet dating site. He moved into her home in Norwich within weeks, and the abuse continued.
Black said she had never been involved in any of the abuse and claimed she was the victim of a ‘stitch-up’ when convicted in July but Detective Chief Inspector Pete Hornby said after the sentencing that she was the ‘one common denominator’.
‘She played an active part in the abuse and facilitated abuse by others. She was at the centre of the spider’s web of abuse,’ he added. ‘It seems they [the defendants] ended up viewing the children as sexual playthings.’
Sarah Elliott QC, representing Black, said her client did not have the ‘intelligence or wit’ to be part of a ‘Machiavellian scheme’ to cover up abuse. But Isabella Forshall QC, for Adams, said one of the counts listed Black as the only participant, while Ann Cotcher QC, for Rogers, said the abuse began ‘before he was on the scene’.
The trial was held up amid concerns that victims’ statements had been changed by Norfolk County Council’s social services.
Police investigated but announced no further action would be taken. The department was recently ranked ‘inadequate’ in all areas by Ofsted.