Paedo gang ran child sex abuse ring while posing as ‘witches and wizards’

The ‘witches and wizards’ gang have been found guilty of heinous crimes (Picture: James Chapelard)

Warning: This story contains graphic content and details of sexual abuse.

Seven members of a paedophile gang who posed as ‘witches and wizards’ have been found guilty of running a sickening child sex abuse ring.

Five men and two women were found guilty of sexual assault and rape after a harrowing trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

Children were lured by the gang to ‘beasty house’ where they were told witches and wizards would ‘turn them into dogs and cats’ with ‘magic wands’.

The court heard how the primary-school children were given alcohol and cocaine before being sexually humiliated and raped in groups.

One of the children reportedly told police: ‘Two witches held my legs down, it felt uncomfortable, all the witches and wizards were watching.’

John Clark, 46, was found guilty in court today (Picture: James Chapelard)

Paul Brannan, 41, was also deemed guilty in Glasgow (Picture: James Chapelard)

Barry Watson was charged with helping to organise the sick meetings (Picture: James Chapelard)

Children would be given money after the horrific sex attacks, as the heroin addict offenders ‘laughed’.

The court also heard how older children would be forced to abuse younger kids, something the defendants called ‘child rape nights’.

In one case, a child was put inside of a microwave, oven, fridge and freezer in an attempt to kill them.

Iain Owens, 45, Elaine Lannery, 39, Lesley Williams, 41, Paul Brannan, 41, Scott Forbes, 50, Barry Watson, 47, and John Clark, 46, were all found guilty of organising the sickening gatherings between 2010 and 2020.

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Owens, Lannery, Williams and Brannan were found guilty of attempted murder.

Owens, Williams and Brannan were also found guilty of drug offences.

A third woman – Marianne Gallacher, 38 – was found guilty of non-sexual offences, as two other men and a woman were acquitted.

Scott Forbes, 50, was one of 11 defendants from the disturbed group (Picture: James Chapelard)

Lesley Williams, 42, was charged with sickening crimes (Picture: James Chapelard)

Elaine Lannery, 39, was also found guilty of attempted murder (Picture: James Chapelard)

Iain Owens, 45, is guilty of attempted murder and drug offences (Picture: James Chapelard)

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children development director Matt Forde told Sky News it was a ‘shocking case’.

‘There have been some horrendous cases over the decades. But this one is truly shocking and the public will find it difficult to think that children can have experiences like this, that they can be exposed to such willful and awful treatment such horrendous abuse.’

‘You can only imagine the terror and miserable existence that these children had.’

The guilty verdicts were reached after a two-month trial and three-year-long police investigation.

The trial is believed to be the largest prosecution of a child abuse ring in Scottish history.

The sentencing by Judge Lord Beckett will be at the High Court in Glasgow on January 4.

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