Inside the horror of the drug-addled gang that held ‘child rape nights’ in Glasgow home
Inside the horror of the drug-addled gang that held ‘child rape nights’ in Glasgow home
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Residents left ‘sick to their stomach’ after paedophile ring exposed in case which ‘plunges to the depths of human depravity’, Amy-Clare-Martin reports. Walking around a Glasgow housing estate on a sunny day — where children play happily on their scooters in the green space nearby — you would never guess the horrors that took place here.
![[Iain Owens]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/11/14/15/newFile-4.jpg)
A group of five men and two women, addled by drugs, formed a sick child abuse ring that oversaw some of the most depraved crimes against children ever uttered in a courtroom. There is nothing remarkable about the suburb, which we cannot name for legal reasons. But inside a run-of-the-mill family home there, which became known as the “beasty house” by victims, a group were plying children with alcohol and drugs while subjecting them to a seven-year campaign of sexual depravity.
![[Paul Brannan]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/11/14/18/newFile-4.jpg)
In November 2023, seven members of the ring were found guilty of abusing three children after Glasgow High Court heard how they held “child rape nights” inside the property, which became a drugs den where heroin and crack cocaine was used. Now, more than a year later, they have been sentenced.
![[Elaine Lannery]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/11/14/15/newFile-5.jpg)
Iain Owens, 46, Elaine Lannery, 40, Lesley Williams, 43, Paul Brannan, 42, Scott Forbes, 51, Barry Watson, 48, and John Clark, 48, were all found guilty of rape and sexual assault. Over a two-month trial, jurors heard horrifying details of their crimes, including the attempted murder of a girl who was put in a microwave, forced to eat dog food, and hung by her clothes from a nail, as well as being chased by people wearing a devil mask. Owens, Lannery, Williams and Brannan were also found guilty of attempted murder, however Clark was acquitted of the charge.
![[John Clark]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/11/14/18/newFile-2.jpg)
