By ELIZABETH HAIGH – Daily Mail
An evil paedophile gang wearing devil masks locked children inside an oven and a fridge in a hell-hole house of horrors where they were made to eat dog food and were sexually abused.
The children were subjected to abuse so horrendous that a judge described it as ‘extraordinary depravity’.
Sickening images of inside the lair show mountains of rubbish piled up in filthy rooms where young victims were tormented.
An photo taken through one small window chillingly reveals a child-sized green plastic chair sitting amongst piles and piles of waste.
The exterior of the squalid Glasgow flat, which MailOnline is not showing for legal reasons, looks like a rundown housing block.
But inside the abuse was so evil that the children hauntingly called it the ‘Beastie House’.
Five men and three women were convicted at the High Court in Glasgow of horrific crimes against four children under the age of 13. Pictured: Lesley Williams and Paul Brannan
The squalid city flat, which doubled as a drug den, was where the seven adults would hold ‘rape nights’ when the children would be abused, take class A drugs and force the children to also consume dog food, drugs and alcohol .
The ‘beastie house’ as it was known by one of the young victims, was the site of horrors where three young children, all aged under 13, were violently and sexually assaulted over a period of more than seven years.
One of the victims, a girl, was raped in the dismal house when she was still young enough to wear a nappy. She knew it as the ‘dark and scary beastie house’, so called because she had previously been locked inside a cupboard there that was full of spiders and beetles.
Ahead of the gang’s sentencing on Tuesday, a judge warned them they had been convicted of crimes of ‘extraordinary depravity’ and they all faced a ‘very substantial prison sentence’.
As well as ‘rape nights’, the grim flat was host to ‘dance and sex nights’ and ‘dog killings nights’, all without neighbours suspecting anything was amiss.
Besides being raped, the youngest girl was shut inside an oven, a microwave and locked inside a freezer as members of the gang tried to kill her.
She was also chased by people wearing devil masks during the abuse, which she suffered between 2015 and 2019.
The girl told the court during last year’s trial: ‘It is not nice when people laugh at you when you are hurting.’
The depraved gang even made one of the children dress up and ‘dance’ before being raped.
The boy told police how all the members of the gang would turn up at the property ‘at the same time’ before punching and hitting him and the two girls with pans.
He recalled being made to drink alcohol and said the abuse at the flat was sometimes recorded on video.
The paedophile gang caused the children to consume drugs and alcohol. They also used Class A drugs in front of them. Pictured: Elaine Lannery
Scott Forbes, 50, (pictured) was found guilty of raping a girl
Barry Watson, 47, was also found guilty for raping two girls. He was remanded in custody
During one horrific attack on one of the girls, the vile group cheered, while others filmed the abuse and exchanged money for what went on.
On another occasion, one of the girls was restrained and abused by members of the ring in a disgusting room until she was injured and unconscious – again while it was being recorded. One of the gang members received payment after the attack.
Seven men and four women eventually went on trial, which is believed to be the largest number of accused individuals to appear together in the dock in recent Scottish legal history.
As well as the sickening sexual abuse, the gang ran a wheelchair over the legs of one of the girls, as well as putting a plastic bag over her head.
The gang was also accused of forcing the children to participate in witchcraft at the flat, but these charges were dropped during the trial.
It had been claimed they performed ‘spells’ on the children and convinced them they had been metamorphised into various animals, as well as used ouija boards.
The gang killed dogs who were cut and stabbed to death, and the boy said he had once been made to kill a budgie with a knife.
The boy said he was once submerged in a bath filled with blood at the Glasgow flat.
Seven of the eleven were found guilty of sex abuse, including rape, and four of attempted murder. Another woman was found guilty of assault.
Three people were acquitted. The sentencing will be held at the High Court on January 4.
Iain Owens, 45, was convicted of 18 charges including the rape of the three children, attempted murder of one involving shutting her in a microwave and other kitchen appliances.
The jobless addict was also guilty of other sex offences and class A drug supply.
Elaine Lannery, 39, was convicted of the rape of the children among the 12 charges she was charged for.
Lesley Williams, 42, was convicted of five charges including the rape of two girls.
Paul Brannan, 40, was guilty of seven charges which also featured the rape of all the three sex abuse victims.
Scott Forbes, 50, Barry Watson and John Clark, both 47, were further convicted.
Marianne Gallagher was found guilty of assault.
The gang have been warned they could face life sentences.