Colin Batley was the leader of a “quasi-religious” sex cult Members of a Carmarthenshire sex cult are expected to be sentenced later for a series of offences against children and young adults.
Cult leader Colin Batley, 48, was found guilty of more than 35 offences, and three women, including his wife, were also convicted.
Batley had moved from London to Kidwelly as the self-styled high priest of the occult group.
A judge at Swansea Crown Court said they face “vast” jail terms.
A jury rejected claims by Batley and other defendants during the trial that no cult existed.
The court heard how the cult operated from a number of homes in a cul-de-sac in Kidwelly.
Batley, his wife Elaine and two other women who all lived in the street took part in a catalogue of abuse against children and young adults.
Victims said the group used occult writings and practices to “brainwash” them, and justify their abuse.
Batley used his position as the cult leader to rape boys and girls, the court was told.
One of his victims told the court that when she became pregnant as a young teenager, Batley told her the unborn baby was a “child of the occult” and threatened to kill her if she spoke out.
Batley was found guilty of 35 offences, including 11 rapes, three indecent assaults, causing prostitution for personal gain, causing a child to have sex and inciting a child to have sex.
His wife Elaine Batley, 47, was convicted of five sex-related offences. Jacqueline Marling, 42, was found guilty on five charges and Shelley Millar, 35, two.
Another woman, Sandra Iveson, 45, was cleared of the one charge she faced of indecency with a child.
A sixth defendant, Vincent Barden, 70, from Kempston, Bedfordshire, who is unconnected with the cult, was found not guilty of rape, but had already admitted indecent assault.
Before the trial Batley had already admitted indecent assault.
Judge Thomas indicated on Wednesday that he would sentence the four cult members and Barden on Friday, saying they had been found guilty of “extremely serious charges” and their sentences “will be vast”.
In a statement following the convictions, Carmarthenshire council’s local safeguarding children’s board expressed “sincere sympathy” for the victims and their families in this “distressing” case.
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