One of Britain’s worst paedophiles who headed a vile cult which abused young children for more than 10 years could be released from prison this week.
Colin Batley was given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum of 11 years in 2011 after being found guilty of 35 offences including multiple rapes.
Batley has a Parole Board hearing on Friday (March 7), where a panel of experts will assess his case and may decide to release him.
It is his third hearing and experts fear it will see him released.
Passing sentence, the judge made it clear that Batley would be eligible to seek parole only once it was determined he no longer represented a danger to the public.
A major part of that process is to admit his guilt, something he vehemently denied throughout the trial.
The predator brainwashed the children and ran the cult in a cul-de-sac in the small town of Kidwelly in Carmarthenshire, Wales.
The former Tesco security guard had moved down from London.
Three women, including his estranged wife, were also jailed for their roles in the cult.
He had molested and raped children and young people for more than three decades, and had been warned he faced dying behind bars.
Gary Beer, a town councillor for Kidwelly, said the case still hangs over the area.
He said: ‘It was horrific. What happened still sends shockwaves through the local community.
‘Many people were impacted.
‘Batley should remain behind bars for the rest of his life. Life should mean life.
‘What he did was ruin the lives of local people. It was sickening. It sickens me.
‘My message to the Parole Board is please, on behalf of people locally, keep him locked up. He does not deserve freedom.’
A source said: ‘This is a shocking development.
‘Many thought he would die behind bars, but this gives him a hope of freedom. It is sickening.’
Batley moved from London to Kidwelly in the 1990s, where the cult operated from a series of homes in a quiet cul-de-sac – where sex abuse was said to have already been taking place.
He set up what was described in court as a ‘black magic sex cult’, of which he was the self-appointed ‘high priest’.
The jury heard Batley psychologically terrorised and coerced vulnerable children into performing vile sexual acts, by using death threats and brainwashing.
He conducted ceremonies and indicated cult membership with an ancient ‘Egyptian eye’ tattoo of Horus, a hawk-headed god on their arms.
Batley forced a number of the victims into prostitution and claimed 25% of their earnings.
The other members of his cult have already been freed after serving just a few years of their sentences.
At Swansea Crown Court in March 2011, Jacqueline Marling, then 42, described as Batley’s ‘right-hand woman’, was jailed for 12 years, while Batley’s wife Elaine, 47, was jailed for eight years.
Shelly Millar, 35, described during the trial as Batley’s ‘sex slave’, was jailed for five years.
Vincent Barden, 70, of Kempston, Bedfordshire, who was not a cult member, was jailed for three years after admitting two counts of sexual assault on an underage girl.
Marling, now 53, was released in 2017 after serving just six years. Elaine Batley, now 58, was freed in 2014 after serving less than half of her sentence.
Millar, now aged 46, was also released in 2014 after three years in jail, whilst Barden, now 81, was freed in 2012, just over a year into his three year sentence. It is not known if he is still alive.
In one instance, Batley tried to force a pregnant schoolgirl to give birth. The girl, who had been raped by a cult member, was told that all children conceived within the cult belonged to it.
One victim said after the verdict: ‘Colin knew how to manipulate you, to make you believe anything he said.’
Batley was found guilty of 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.
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