A court in Glasgow handed life-long sentences to 7 members of one of the largest grooming gangs in Scotland, thereby ensuring that they might never be released from prison.
The convicted criminals were identified as Iain Owens, Elaine Lannery, Lesley Williams, Paul Brannan, Scott Forbes, Barry Watson and John Clark. They were found guilty in November 2023.
One of the accused Marianne Gallagher was initially convicted for assault but was cleared of all other charges. The ‘grooming gang’ sexually abused three children between 2013 and 2019.
The victims, who were below the age, suffered unimaginable abuse inside a drug den in Glasgow called ‘the beastie house.’ The criminals running the gang organised ‘rape nights’ and ‘dance and sex nights’.
One of the victims was a girl child who was young enough to wear nappies. On multiple occasions, the grooming gang members locked her inside cupboard, refrigerator and oven. She was also coerced into eating dog food.
This was besides the physical assault and sexual violence. Other victims were forced to consume drugs and alcohol. The ordeal suffered by the children came to light only in March 2020.
Some of the members of the ‘grooming gang’ had previous convictions but none for sex crimes. Seven of them have been handed lifelong restrictionss (also called OLRs), which are reserved for most serious crimes in Scotland that do not involve murder.
