Eleven accused of satanic child abuse ring face trial next year

ELEVEN people are facing trial accused of taking part in a child sex ring involving witchcraft, attempted murder and serious sexual violence.

Seven men and four women are facing 43 charges on alleged crimes that happened between January 2010 and March 2020 at addresses in Glasgow.

The accusations involve multiple young children but mainly centre around two girls and a boy.

Some charges claim the alleged victims were forced to take part in ‘seances’ and were told they were drinking blood and eating a heart.

It is further claimed they were made to kill animals and use a ouija board, or similar object, ‘to call on spirits and demons’. One girl was said to have been shut in a microwave, a fridge, an oven and a freezer in an attempt to kill her.

There are also claims members of the group ‘did clap, cheer and verbally encourage’ as well as video record the children being sexually abused.

Iain Owens, 44, Elaine Lannery, 38, Lesley Williams, 41, Paul Brannan, 40, Marianne Gallagher, 38, Scott Forbes, 49, Barry Watson, 46, Mark Carr, 49, Richard Gachagan, 45, Leona Laing, 50, and John Clark, 46, deny the charges. Maureen Goudie, Steven McHendrie, Robert Brown, James McLean and Douglas Gachagan are mentioned as being involved but court papers said they are deceased.

At a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday, Judge Lord Beckett said the case was ‘a unique situation’.

Questions were raised over how best to hear evidence from some witnesses, and lawyers were given until the end of the year to lodge any complaints about proceedings ahead of the trial next year.

Members of the group are accused of getting the young boy to ‘courier controlled drugs’ on their behalf.

Court documents claim all 11 accused wore cloaks and devil horns and got the children involved in ‘witchcraft’, leading them to believe that they themselves had ‘metamorphosed into animals’.

They allegedly made the boy stab a budgie to death and have been accused of killing a number of dogs – including getting the children to attack the animals.

Judge Lord Beckett set an eight-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow for September next year. A further hearing has been fixed for January.