Neighbours in shock over sex offender couple
PARENTS ON ZARA MARKE’S STREET FEEL ‘UNCOMFORTABLE’
NEIGHBOURS of actress Zara Pythian have shared their shock after she and her husband were convicted of sex crimes.
The Doctor Strange star and her husband, Victor Marke, were found guilty at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday of sordid sex crimes with a 13-year-old girl. They are both in jail before they are sentenced on Monday.
The couple were j found guilty of 14 charges of sexual activity with the girl. Victor, 59, of Maris Avenue in Ravenshead, was further convicted of four charges of indecent assault with another young girl after he touched her breasts under her clothing and performed two sexual acts on her.
Zara, going by her married name Marke, 36, of Taurus Close in Mansfield, and Victor denied all charges, but were unanimously found guilty on all counts by a jury.
Parents living on Taurus Close were “uncomfortable” that someone who has committed such crimes lived on their street.
Amber Allen, 32, said: “It makes me very uncomfortable, especially when I’m a parent and we have our kids outside playing in the street. A leopard doesn’t change its spots.”
Claudia Patoku, 29, said: “I have a little daughter and it’s very shocking to hear.”
Manik Tikoo, 36, said: “It’s a pretty safe area, I keep updated with what’s going on through Facebook pages and things like that but hadn’t heard of what happened. Everyone around here is usually really friendly.”
But one resident said they did “not have a bad word to say about them”, and that the couple had been really friendly during lockdown when they were on their own.
The resident, who did not want to be identified, said: “I know them from living in the area. They were really nice people to me and I’m devastated. Every time I saw them, they would be polite. I can’t say hello to them anymore. In lockdown, I was on my own and they would always say hello. I’ve not got a bad word to say about them.”
Zara also ran Personal Best Martial Arts Academy, opposite Mansfield Police Station. Nearby workers said she and her husband usually kept to themselves, and they knew little of them.
One, who did not want to be identified, said: “I’ve never spoken to them, but it’s disgraceful, it’s unbelievable.”
A business owner, who also did not want to be identified, said: “It’s shocked me that it has involved kids. I just cannot understand it at all. They moved into the business around four or five years ago. They kept themselves to themselves, Zara’s dad was a lovely bloke but I didn’t see the couple.”