Up To 15 Adults Invovled In Edinburgh Child Abuse Case

A woman and two men have been charged with taking part in child abuse in Edinburgh which involved up to 15 adults. The group have been accused of raping, molesting and physically assaulting two sisters over the course of 12 years at homes in Edinburgh and a caravan park in Perthshire.

One of the alleged victims was just six when the abuse is said to have started.

She has told police she was repeatedly blindfolded, tied to a bed and forced to watch adults having group sex during a series of horrific attacks.

Her younger sister was allegedly sexually assaulted by five men the day before her 16th birthday.

All the alleged abuse is said to have taken place between 1985 and 1997.

The three have been charged after police launched an investigation in October 2005, in which the alleged victims, now aged 26 and 25, were interviewed by police.

Up to eight as yet unidentified adults are also said to have taken part in the abuse.

Another three men and a woman suspected of involvement have died since the alleged abuse came to an end.

The three people that have been charged are Caroline Dunsmore, 42, John O’Flaherty and Morris Petch, both 50.

Most of the charges prepared by prosecutors list various types of alleged abuse said to have been carried out on “various occasions” over periods as long as eight years.

Dunsmore, of Nichollfield, Newhaven, faces 12 sets of charges which includes molesting the older victim, beating her with a belt and having sex with various men in front of the child.

Petch, of Oxgangs Farm Gardens, was charged with six sets of offences which include raping both sisters and forcing them to commit indecent acts with each other while he watched.

O’Flaherty, of Ferry Road, faces four sets of charges, which include multiple rapes of both girls.

They appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday for a preliminary hearing where they maintained pleas of not guilty. They are expected to stand trial later in the year.

Between June 1985 and December 1995, Dunsmore and her partner William King, who has since died, allegedly molested the older sister regularly from the age of six.

The charges state that she was raped and made to watch the couple have sex at houses in the north of Edinburgh and at Abernethy Caravan Park in Perthshire.

Dunsmore is also alleged to have joined William King, Peter King and Mary King, who have all died, in group sex at one of the houses with the child in the room, while she was aged between six and 11. The girl is then said to have been forced to commit indecent acts.

Dunsmore is also accused of tying her to a bed and beating her with a belt.

O’Flaherty, Dunsmore and William King allegedly raped the girl together between February 1987 and June 1990 and had group sex in her presence at one of the houses and the caravan park.

The trio are accused of joining three more unidentified people for a string of alleged attacks at the holiday site between April and June 1990. It is claimed the victim, who was then aged nine, was blindfolded on a bed and repeatedly raped.

Petch and Dunsmore are also accused of molesting the youngster along with King when she was aged between ten and 14 at four different Edinburgh addresses. Dunsmore had sex with Petch and King as the child was made to look on, the charges allege.

The alleged abuse of the younger victim, who was born in 1981, is said to have begun in September 1990.

Petch is accused of repeatedly forcing the two sisters to commit indecent acts with each other before carrying out a series of rapes on both over a nine-month period.

He is also accused of repeatedly raping the younger sister along with Larry Petch, now deceased, and another unidentified man, between October 1994 and October 1997.

O’Flaherty is charged with raping the girl when she was aged 13 to 15 between the same dates along with four other people, whose identities remain unknown to prosecutors.

A Lothian and Borders Police spokeswoman said today “inquiries were still open” regarding attempts to trace the remaining unidentified suspects.