Glasgow child abuse ring warned of potential life sentences

Glasgow child abuse ring warned of potential life sentences

A group of seven people convicted of sexually abusing children in Glasgow have been told that they face possible life sentences.

Five men and two women were convicted in November in what is believed to be the largest prosecution of a child abuse ring in Scotland.

They had been due to be sentenced on Thursday but judge Lord Beckett deferred the case until Tuesday of next week.

The adjournment is to allow for risk assessors to be appointed.

The assessors will help the judge to decide whether a lifelong restriction order should be placed on some or all of the gang, who carried out horrific abuse against three children in a Glasgow drug den described as the “beastie house” by one of their victims.

It will look at whether the abusers would potentially “seriously endanger the lives or physical or psychological wellbeing of the public at large” and should therefore be subject to risk management for the rest of their lives.

They would also be ordered to serve a minimum period in jail – a punishment part – before they could be considered for parole.

Iain Owens, 45, Elaine Lannery, 39, Lesley Williams, 42, Paul Brannan, 41, Scott Forbes, 50, Barry Watson, 47, and John Clark, 48, had denied all of the allegations against them but were found guilty after a nine-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow.