March 2011

‘Ruler of a sick kingdom’: Cul-de-sac sex cult leader Colin Batley is jailed and ‘may never be released’

Cult leader Colin Batley and he’s wife Elaine.

The ‘evil ruler’ of a Satanic sex cult who preyed on young children for more than a decade was yesterday told he may never be released from prison.

Sexual predator Colin Batley created his own ‘sick little kingdom’ where his victims were subjected to ‘organised and systematic’ abuse.

The former Tesco security guard was sentenced to 22 years at Swansea Crown Court but warned he may never be released from prison for the depraved crimes he committed as master of his black magic sect in a sleepy Welsh seaside town.

The scruffy and unassuming dog breeder exercised absolute over his ‘quasi-religious cult’ in a nondescript cul-de-sac in Kidwelly, Wales.

He had only to snap his fingers and his victims and ‘disciples’ would obey his every perverted whim – ‘initiating’ one schoolgirl by rape when she was 11 and threatening murder by cult assassins and eternal damnation if she did not comply.

His sinister coven included bisexual wife Elaine Batley, 47, ‘right-hand woman’ Jacqueline Marling, 42, and prostitute Shelly Millar, 35.

Batley’s right-hand woman Jacqueline Marling, and his ‘sex slave’ Shelley Millar. (Right)

They called him ‘Lord’, wore upside down crucifixes and were branded with matching ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus tattoos.

For their part in Batley’s vile cult, they were jailed for a total of 25 years – Marling for 12 years, Elaine Batley for eight and Millar for five.

Vincent Barden, 70, of Kempston, Bedfordshire, who was not a cult member, was jailed for three years for admitting two counts of sexual assault on an underage girl.

On sentencing at Swansea Crown Court yesterday, Judge Paul Thomas QC said: ‘You set yourself up as ruler in your own sick little kingdom, where three women danced as your willing attendants.

‘You became their master and formed a community within a community involving child abuse rape and prostitution. You have been described as evil and that is an entirely accurate statement of your character.

‘It is clear you have dedicated your life to satisfy your sexual urges by any means at your disposal. The age or sex of your victims was largely a matter of indifference to you. 

‘You treated one victim as nothing more than a sexual plaything, dominating and controlling her life and you persuaded your wife to join in. What happened has besmirched the unsuspecting town of Kidwelly.’

He also told Batley, who was convicted of 35 counts including rape, buggery, sexual assault and forcing prostitution, that he will not be eligible for parole for 11 years, adding: ‘You are, and for the foreseeable future, a danger to children.

‘This has been your life’s work involving multiple offences over many years. The public needs protection from you – there are very serious concerns and risks in the future if you are released.’

Father-of-four Batley, who made his money through the proceeds of prostitution, breeding rottweilers, Siamese cats, gambling and black marketeering, moved his cult from his home in Shoreditch, east London to Clos yr Onnen (Welsh for Ash Tree Close) in Kidwelly in the 1990s.

Since an early age he had been dabbling in the occult and was obsessed with the works of arch satanist Aleister Crowley.

In Kidwelly, his home was transformed into the cult’s temple, complete with tanks full of snakes and satanic idolatry.

Each Sunday he held meetings, where he would preach from Crowley’s Book of Law, dress in hooded robes, chant before an altar and then orchestrate or participate in group sex.

Batley’s hold became so strong he prevented a teenager from having an abortion, telling her that babies belonged to the cult and not their mothers.

Judge Thomas added: ‘You have fully lived up to the ideals of your mentor Aleister Crowley. You used the occult to further your sexual excesses – children were kept as toys for sex purposes. 

‘You took a cruel delight in initiating children into sex but their lives have been blighted for ever.  It was organised and systematic abuse of children and you dedicated yourself to such depravity.

‘You controlled the women in all ways, sexually and financially – they paid their benefits over to you. But it’s an enduring mystery how you were able to control intelligent women.’

Tragically for the cult’s many victims – five that we know of – Carmarthenshire Social Services were warned of Batley’s child abuse in 2002 by a worried relative – but took no action.

As a consequence, Batley continued to ‘prey on the young and vulnerable’ for a further eight years.

It was not until one brave victim – whom Batley had impregnated as a teenager – went to the police last year that his dark web of manipulation, terror and cruelty finally collapsed.

As Batley and his cult were jailed, their victims sat in court sobbing.

One of them told the Mail: ‘I just wish I had come forward sooner, I feel so guilty, but hopefully others who have been abused may now see what we went through, and have the courage to speak out.’

In a joint statement they said: ‘This has been a nightmare journey for every one of us and we hope this can be the start of a new beginning.

‘We’ve experience the worst that life can throw at us and all we want to do now is move forward with our lives.

‘We would say to anyone else who may have experienced anything like us to dig deep and find the courage to report it – whether to a family member, a friend or the police.

‘Don’t be afraid and don’t suffer alone.’