Routine lives hid their depravity

NEIGHBOURS had no reason to suspect anything untoward about Marie Black as she went on her trips to London and other parts of the country.

But beneath the veneer of respectability was a sick pervert, whose sentence is believed to be one of the longest handed to a female paedophile by a British court.

Opening the case, prosecutor Angela Rafferty QC said: ‘Many of the defendants have become good at appearing normal and respectable. This is what you have to do in order to be child abusers to the extent alleged here.’

This disturbing ability to hide ‘in plain sight’ was highlighted by Detective Chief Inspector Pete Hornby after the sentencing yesterday. ‘Their behaviour happened in the shadows,’ he said, adding: ‘They had normal jobs and their whole lives were set up to appear normal and hide their paedophilic activity.’

No explanation has been given for how the depraved sex ring began. All three denied the charges and Black refused to give evidence. Their victims were as young as two when the abuse began. In a statement, one boy revealed he thought the term ‘terrible twos’ was the age children start being sexually abused rather than a reference to bad behaviour.

But worryingly, none of the defendants had previous criminal records for child abuse, leaving questions about whether they have successfully covered their tracks in the past or provided each other with the environment to begin acting out their nauseating fantasies for the first time.

Mr Hornby added: ‘Maybe at some point through rehabilitation or the probation process Black will offer acknowledgement and explanation for what happened. Until then, we cannot say how this began.

‘It seems they ended up viewing the children as sexual playthings and lost sight of the fact they were kids. All the normal instincts of an adult protecting a child went out of the window.’

Thanks to her vile crimes, Black has received death threats while she has been in custody and has so far been moved between prisons several times.