A man who was allegedly the leader of a bizarre, quasi-religious sex cult has described claims that he committed sex offences against children as totally false.
Colin Batley also denied using “references to religion or the occult” as a way of dominating any of his alleged victims.
He said of the complainants: “They are out to get me.”
Batley, 48, yesterday began giving evidence at the Swansea Crown Court trial where he is in the dock with five co-defendants.
He is one of five people from Clos yr Onnen, Kidwelly, who are accused of committing sex offences against children.
According to the prosecution, Batley was the “evil and manipulative” leader of a bizarre and closely entwined group.
A sixth defendant, not said to be part of the cult, is from Befordshire. There are not guilty pleas to an indictment comprising more than 40 charges — and the case involves five alleged victims, who cannot be named in press reports for legal reasons
Batley, who faces multiple charges of rape, buggery and possessing child pornography, is also accused of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and indecent assault.
His female co-accused are his wife Elaine Batley, 47, Jacqueline Marling, 42, Sandra Iveson, aged 45, and Shelly Millar, 35.
An “evil” cult leader had sex with a schoolgirl as part of an elaborate occult initiation ceremony, a jury has heard earlier this month, according the Press Association:
The schoolgirl victim, 15, was so convinced she would be murdered by shadowy cult assassins if she said “no” that she gave in.
The girl, who cannot be named, gave evidence via video link in the trial at Swansea Crown Court, in south Wales.
She frequently sobbed and was forced to look away as she told how she was intimidated into becoming an unwilling cult member.
Once initiated, she was passed around as a sex toy, with the cult leader calling her to his service with a click of his fingers, the court heard.
Questioned by prosecutor Peter Murphy QC she said Batley sometimes said he was a Mormon. But on other occasions he spoke of being part of “The Church” — an organisation in which he “set all the rules”.
“The Church” had religious texts — such as The Book Of The Law and The Equinox — and members were supplied with laminated copies.
The court heard how members of the group would meet on Sunday evenings to hear passages from these texts being read aloud. During these meetings, Batley would tell members about The Realm and The Palace.
“He would say The Realm was Heaven and The Palace was where he was from,” said the witness, who admitted becoming a prostitute at the age of 18.
“He said all the tests I had done would get me to The Palace and I’d be looked after by the gods.
“But if I failed the test, I’d go down to The Abyss, which was Hell. At the time, I believed what he was saying and that’s why I did what he said.”
It has also been reported that the cult members would don hooded robes during sex ceremonies while Batley read from the Book of Law by magician and occultist Aleister Crowley, which encouraged free sex and reads: “Let all chaste women be despised.”
Earlier one of Batley’s alleged victims, a man now in his 40s, told the jury how Batley once tricked him into having sex with Elaine Batley.
The Daily Mail reports:
Batley, [the prosecutor] said, was a sexual predator who had corrupted others to do his bidding through coercion and control
A jury at Swansea crown court heard the defendants had all moved from London to the same street in the seaside village of Kidwelly, near Carmarthen, West Wales.
In 1995 Sandra Iveson, 49, moved there. Over the next four years Batley and his wife Elaine, 47, moved there as well as Jacqueline Marling, 42, and 35-year-old Shelly Millar.
Mr Murphy said the women wore identical tattoos to show their membership of Batley’s cult.
Batley, claimed Mr Murphy, then used his elevated position to rape both girls and boys, to make underage teens have sex with each other and to persuade the women to join in.