Woman who assaulted child in drugs den spared further punishment
Share:
A woman who was found guilty of assaulting a child in a Glasgow drugs den where seven other people carried out “harrowing” abuse was spared further punishment although a judge branded her actions “reprehensible”. Marianne Gallagher, 40, was convicted of assault following an eight-week trial in 2023, which heard allegations of abuse which a judge said “plunges to the depths of human depravity”.
Co-accused Iain Owens, 46; Elaine Lannery, 40; Lesley Williams, 43; Paul Brannan, 42; Scott Forbes, 51; Barry Watson, 48; and John Clark, 48, are due to be sentenced later this month, having been convicted of gang raping a child and abusing other children in a drugs den where heroin and crack cocaine were used.
Four of the group: Owens, Lannery, Brannan and Williams, were found guilty of attempting to murder a child by pushing her into a microwave and trapping her in other places. The trial at the High Court in Glasgow heard that offences, involving three children, happened between 2012 and 2019, with allegations of Satanic rituals and dog-killing put before a jury before the prosecution dropped the former and no one was convicted of the latter.
A total of 11 people were put on trial, however, three were acquitted. Gallagher was the only one convicted who was not added to the sex offenders’ register following conviction in November 2023, and was allowed out on bail. On Monday, the High Court in Glasgow was told that she had a baby in August and was still struggling with addiction.
