Evil paedophile led satanic sex cult which preyed on children

Colin Batley, 48, of Kidwelly, west Wales, presided over the quasi-religious cult which preyed on young children and indulged in occult rites.

A jury at Swansea Crown Court yesterday found him guilty of carrying out a series of perverted sexual acts on children and adults, including rape.

Batley was the self-styled high priest of the group, which operated from a series of homes in a quiet cul-de-sac in the seaside town.

He and four female members insisted throughout the five-week trial that no cult had ever existed but the trial jury dismissed their claims when they found Batley guilty of more than two dozen acts of sexual perversion linked to his activities in the cult.

In total, he was found guilty of 35 separate offences and warned by the trial judge that he faced a lengthy prison term when he is sentenced tomorrow.

His wife, Elaine Batley, 47, and Jacqueline Marling, 42, and Shelly Millar, 35, who lived at separate addresses in Clos yr Onnen in Kidwelly were found guilty of sex-related charges,

Marling was found guilty of aiding and abetting rape, causing prostitution for gain, and inciting a child to engage in sex , and three separate counts of indecency with a child.

Elaine Batley was found guilty of three counts of indecency with a child and one of sexual activity with a child.

Shelly Millar was found guilty of indecency with a child and inciting a child to engage in sex.

Alleged cult member Sandra Iveson, 45, was cleared of a single charge of indecency with a child while Vincent Barden, 70, of Kempston, Bedfordshire, who was not a cult member, was also cleared of a single charge of rape though had already admitted two counts of sexual assault on an under-age girl.

The jury delivered guilty verdicts for almost every offence that the group faced. In Batley’s case it included 11 separate rapes, three indecent assaults, causing prostitution for personal gain, causing a child to have sex and inciting a child to have sex. The jury also found him guilty of six counts of buggery and four counts of possessing indecent images of a child.

Judge Paul Thomas warned the group they all faced “lengthy jail terms” when they are sentenced tomorrow.

During the trial, Batley was accused of using the cult as an excuse for sexual depravity. Members would dress in hooded robes during occult rituals which usually took place before group sex at a number of houses in the same cul-de-sac.

Batley would read from the occult “bible”, The Book of the Law, written more than a century ago by arch-Satanist Aleister Crowley. He would also order members to have sex together and for it to be filmed.

The recorded material mentioned during the trial is believed to have been destroyed before his arrest.

One schoolboy, now an adult, said Batley had repeatedly abused him as a child and a schoolgirl, also now an adult, told the court she was forced into joining the cult through fear for her life.

Batley told her a cult assassin would kill her if she did not take part in an elaborate initiation ceremony, which started with a 10- minute lecture on the occult but concluded with sex.

The schoolgirl was later ordered to Batley’s home on regular occasions when she would have to give him sex. She was also taken to Satanic sex parties where she would be passed round to have sex with strangers.

The events took place over several decades in both Kidwelly and addresses in London.