Did these monsters murder little Lesley?

18 March 2001
The News of the World
Amanda Revell Walton, Terenia Taras
Additional reporting: Sarah Arnold, Neville Thurlbeck

25-year- old inquiry is reopened after NOW investigation

Two of Britain's most evil paedophiles are to be quizzed over the sex murder of schoolgirl Lesley Molseed 25 years ago-after new evidence was uncovered by the News of the World.

The 11-year-old-known as Little Miss Chatterbox was appallingly assaulted, knifed to death and left on moors. The News of the World has now linked the horror to pink-haired Michael Horgan, Raymond Hewlett and a third man we are not naming.

A hardened detective, who keeps a photo of Lesley on his desk, has opened 148 new lines of inquiry into her murder as a result of our dossier. Det Chief Supt Max McLean glanced at the picture and said:

"I've been looking at it for some time. This is a case that stirs you to want to do your best. Your dossier's been extremely helpful."

Lesley, who had a heart defect, was killed in October 1975 while on an errand for her mum. She was sexually assaulted, knifed 12 times and dumped near her home town of Rochdale, Lancs. Educationally subnormal Stefan Kiszko was found guilty of the murder, but freed after 16 years when DNA evidence cleared him.

Our dossier indicates that satanic child-sex abuser Horgan-now 52 and with a Mohican hairstyle-'groomed' Lesley leading up to her death. On the afternoon of her disappearance, loner Horgan - now at a hostel in London's Elephant and Castle-was spotted luring her away from the shops with a bag of sweets. Later that day he was seen with the distraught child clawing to get out of a car.

Early the next day he and the man we are not naming spent two hours meticulously scrubbing a blue van. We also discovered Lesley's body was found five miles from a house where Horgan and other paedophiles subjected children to satanic abuse. He was a close friend of serial child sex offender Hewlett, now 56, at the time of the murder.

Tapes

We have tapes of meetings we set up between Horgan and his ex-wife Eileen, 63.

She quizzes him about Lesley. He replies:

"You're putting me in a coffin."

Horgan's stepdaughter, a schoolpal of Lesley, vividly recalls Horgan bringing the 11-year-old back to their home. The 33-year-old stepdaughter said:

"My stepdad said, 'Do you want some sweets?' Lesley said, 'Yeah'."

Eileen recalls seeing Horgan leading Lesley away from a nearby sweetshop. She said:

"She was walking by the side of him."

Witness Sandra Creese, 57, saw him with a little girl in blue clothing crying in a car with a man.

"She looked very frightened," Sandra said. "She put her hands up to the window."

Eileen said the next morning Horgan ordered her to fill a bucket of water. Eileen said he and the unnamed man cleaned the van. She said:

"You name it, they cleaned it. Then we had to do the wheels."

Horgan and his associate then scrubbed up and dumped their clothes. Eileen was ordered to cut their nails-even scraping dirt from under them. Horgan also ordered his wife to cut his hair short.

"He used to love his long hair," she said.

Horgan was convicted in 1992 of hanging children from hooks and sexually abusing them in satanic rituals.

Hewlett has a string of convictions for abducting and raping young girls and has served long stretches in jail. He is believed to be working on trawlers under another identity.

Note:

Raymond Hewlett was considered to be the prime suspect in disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Questions have been raised regarding the McCann photofit of alleged abductor, bearing a remarkable resemblance to Hewlett as he appeared years younger than he was at the time of Madeleine's disappearance.

Det Chief Supt Max McLean traveled to Germany to interview Hewlett  prior to Hewlett's death in German hospital.

July 2011 Questions are being raised regarding the earliest examples of the News of the World hacking phones.  Was this article based on illegally obtained information?  

Why did the News of the World provide details regarding Raymond Hewlett and Michael Horgan and yet protect the identity of the third man they suspect was involved in the Lesley Molseed murder?

ALSO SEE:

Innocent man branded child abuser

Unrepentant 'News of the World' editor refuses to face critics

   

Continue Reading... Labels: DNA, FSS, Lesley Molseed, Madeleine McCann, Max McLean, Michael Horgan, paedophiles, Raymond Hewlett, Rochdale, Stefan Kiszko, West Yorkshire Police

`Attack' forces sex offender to flee

`Attack' forces sex offender to flee
20 August 2000
Independent On Sunday
Robert Verkaik

AN ANTI-PAEDOPHILE campaigner convicted of assaulting young girls has been forced out of his home after a suspected arson attack.

Roger Gardener, 56, who was found guilty of indecently assaulting two young girls last month, is on bail awaiting sentence from Cardiff Crown Court. The unemployed lorry driver fled his home at Blackwood, Gwent, south Wales, after an extensive fire and was keeping his new address secret last night.

Before the court case, he had mounted a local campaign against internet pornography. Earlier this month, after the court case, he had been told to register as a sex offender.

In a separate development, Michael Horgan, 55, one of those targeted by protesters after being accused of being a paedophile, said yesterday that he was suing the News of the World, which had published his name - shared by a known paedophile - in its list of sex offenders.

The engineer from south London has instructed a leading firm of libel lawyers to sue the paper whose "name and shame" campaign sparked a month of mob violence. The defamation specialists, Peter Carter-Ruck & Partners, will bring an estimated #100,000 claim against the News of the World.

The Independent on Sunday reported last week that innocent victims of the tabloid's campaign will have a strong claim for damages. At least two more innocent victims of the vigilante attacks are considering court action.

Mr Horgan, who now lives with a round-the-clock police guard, was targeted by an anti-paedophile group after his "exposure" by the News of the World. His name, telephone number and address then appeared on an incorrect list of paedophiles that was circulated in the Lewisham area. Although he was able to convince some of his neighbours that it was a case of mistaken identity, he had become "terrified" for his family, he said. All telephone calls to his home are now diverted.

Cameron Doley, a partner at Peter Carter-Ruck, which will take the case on a "no win, no fee" basis, said the News of the World had refused to publish a clarification.

"We took the action before the paper withdrew its campaign. The paper has written back claiming it has done nothing wrong. But that is no consolation to my client. There can't be anything much worse than being described as a paedophile."

Mr Doley said the News of the World picture accompanying Mr Horgan's name in the list was too indistinct to make it clear his client was not the paedophile Michael Horgan. "It was simply a picture of a white, middle-aged man with glasses."

The paper began its campaign after the death of Sarah Payne, eight, who was murdered last month in Sussex. After the newspaper decided to print the names of convicted sex offenders, some people across the country took the law into their own hands. Four nights of rioting occurred in Portsmouth aimed at known and suspected paedophiles.

Continue Reading... Labels: Lesley Molseed, Michael Horgan, Raymond Hewlett

High priest of evil set free to prey on children

High priest of evil set free to prey on children
14 March 1999
The News of the World
Paul McMullan and Amanda Revell Walton

Satan sex monster abused his own kids..then let sick disciples do the same

A sick 'high priest' of Satan who raped his own kids, then handed them to devil worshippers for more abuse will this week be FREED to prey on other tots.

Michael Horgan hung his naked daughter and stepson on HOOKS and tied them to a CROSS so his 'disciples' could torture and film them.

Yet he only served half his ten-year jail sentence before being transferred to a bail hostel last May.

And on Tuesday the monster- whose youngest victim was only TWO -will be back on the streets unsupervised.

Vile Horgan, 50-who has changed his name to Shaun O'Donnell-would normally have his identity cloaked by the same laws which guarantee his victims anonymity.

But today his daughter Philomena, now 21, and stepson Michael, 26, have taken the amazingly brave decision to reveal themselves.

For they want the world to see the evil that is their father- and every parent to be warned that he is back on the loose. Philomena and Michael even found the courage to tell of the torment they suffered at Horgan's hands as they grew up in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

The Satanist, who literally WORSHIPPED child abuse, began preparing them for his perverted rites when Philomena was a wide-eyed six-year-old and Michael was just 11.

Some of their memomories are so harrowing as to be almost unbelievable-but police and experts have cross-checked all details and are absolutely certain they are the truth.

Philomena choked back tears as she recalled:

The first time it happened was in the middle of the night. I woke up and he was touching me.

The second time was when our electricity went. It was dark and I was scared.

He touched me where he shouldn't. He told me I was the best daughter he'd ever had.

And he said I'd only be beautiful if I let him do whatever he wanted. I'd turn ugly if I tried to stop him. Later he'd tie me and Michael each side of a large wooden cross. When I was eight he tied us up in the lounge. Three men carried us into the back of a van and my father blindfolded us.

We were driven off and later someone removed the blindfold. I saw the cross and some chains and whips. I was frightened. I thought I was going to die.

Through the window I could see the moor (Saddleworth Moor, where Myra Hindley and Ian Brady murdered their young victims 30 years earlier) .

Michael and I were made to swallow a small blue tablet. I passed out.

I WOKE up with a scream. My hands were tied above my head and I was lying naked on the moor. I remember how cold it was.

Michael was next to me and we were in the middle of a big circle with two triangles inside it painted on the grass.

There were grown-ups wearing long white robes with pointed hoods.

I could see my father with another man and woman standing outside the circle.

There were two little girls about my age standing next to them. I know they were the daughters of the man and woman. Next to them there was a black man. We were told his name was Sabu.

I saw a snake being pulled out of a vase. They put it on me and let it crawl along my body.

As soon as Michael and I started screaming a man started videoing us. They all made a humming sound.

After that we were taken to the moors regularly. Sometimes they'd tie us to the cross, sometimes there would be fires around us.

Often they'd make us watch the adults doing things to the other two girls before we had to take our turn.

Sometimes they'd all chant. But I never understood any of the words. My dad said it was voodoo magic.

Once someone's wife had sex with my father. He even tried to make Michael have sex with me-but we couldn't. I was too young. I was screaming and crying-but they seemed to love that even more.

Even at home the nightmare continued for the two children.

For their father built a black magic altar in his attic.

There, five men and a woman would take it in turns to have sex with the whimpering youngsters. Anguished Philomena went on:

"They stripped us, tied our hands and hung us from hooks in the walls.

"My father would stand in front of us naked and do things to Michael and me. Then he'd let others do the same.

"Once we watched him have sex with a woman-then a man.

"In the end it all became 'normal' to us.

"We'd just lay there and let them do what they had to- hoping it would soon be over.

"Once we were locked in a room with a catflap. He put dogfood through it for us.

"I heard a man from our school come to the door-and I heard my dad say we didn't live there any more."

PHILOMENA added:

"I thought it was natural for a father to do what he did to us. Michael and I never talked about what happened.

"It's only recently that we've been able to talk about it to each other.

"Now if I see the sign that was on the grass-a pentagram-on a film or TV, it all comes flooding back."

Philomena was robbed of her entire girlhood by her monstrous father. At his trial for serious sexual assault, Manchester Court heard how he had made her wear black leather mini-skirts when she was a mite of eight.

A keen Elvis Presley fan, he beat her with a heavy belt bearing a buckle of 'the king'.

She has tried to wipe out everything about her he found attractive. She has even dyed her beautiful red hair blonde.

Philomena was bought her first doll when she was EIGHTEEN .

She admitted:

"I didn't know what a Sindy Doll was when I was a kid.

"Even now if I babysit for a friend, I'll play with the child's dolls. Sometimes I wish I was a little girl again, so I could start my life all over.

"I feel really sick knowing he's been released and he'll soon be able to come and go as he pleases."

Michael has also been painfully traumatised by his horrific young life.

Like his step-sister he has started afresh in a completely different part of Britain.

"One of the earliest memories I have is of being burnt with a hot poker," he said. "I've still got the scar.

"I still cry now because I can't love anyone. Everyone I've loved in the past has hurt me. Our father has wrecked our lives. Once he tied me and my mate together and made us do things to each other while his friends watched.

"Women also took part. One always dressed as a nurse. She'd give us injections.

"When I got older Horgan and his mates would take me to the park and sell me to men.

"It's outrageous that he'll be back on the streets in days.

"What he did to us is disgusting. And what worries me is that I know he'll do it to other children. None is safe."

DURING his 23-day trial Horgan admitted seriously abusing his two children. He is now registered as a sex offender.

That means he must tell police of any change of address after he leaves his hostel in Lambeth, South London.

Many critics of the system are furious that they only have the power to act AFTER he commits another offence.

A police source said:

"I don't believe there's any way this man's cured.

"He's a twisted evil pervert. But-even worse-he's never accepted the enormity of what he's done.

"The truth is he'll re-offend. It's just a matter of time."

Continue Reading... Labels: Lesley Molseed, Michael Horgan, Raymond Hewlett, Rochdale

Lock him up

Lock him up
13 March 1999
The Sun

WHEN will we ever learn?
Michael Horgan gets 10 years for sordid and dangerous sex attacks on children.

Two-thirds through his sentence, he is let out.

Never mind that he is still such a menace that the police have to watch him like hawks.

Horgan is kept in a bail hostel after protests from parents.

But next Tuesday he will be a free man.

The law says he cannot be caged any longer.

What complete and utter madness.

What are we thinking of, letting an evil pervert out on the streets?

The experts say Horgan - who has now changed his name to Shaun O'Donnell - should be locked away for life.

Paedophiles can never be cured. The only way to protect children is to lock up the perverts and throw away the key.

Soon the law will change to put sex offenders away for ever if necessary.

We hope it is backdated so Horgan gets what he deserves.

Or must another innocent child suffer first?

Continue Reading... Labels: Lesley Molseed, Michael Horgan, Raymond Hewlett

Fears as child sex monster set free

Fears as child sex monster set free
13 March 1999
The Sun
Ian Hepburn
A CHILD sex monster is feared to be plotting attacks on kids from inside a bail hostel - in time for his release next week.

Depraved Michael Horgan, 50 - who has already changed his name to Shaun O'Donnell - is known to have established links with other sex offenders.

Evil Horgan liked to hang kids from ceiling hooks in a secret attic den before beating and abusing them with paedophile pals.

A police intelligence report branded him: "A dangerous individual with a history of disturbing abuse."

He has been under surveillance while at a bail hostel in South London since his release from prison last May.

Timebomb

But on Tuesday he is completely free to return to the community - and police are powerless to act unless he reoffends.

One cops said: "This man is a timebomb waiting to go off."

Last night one of Horgan's victims told of her horror on hearing he is to roam free. The girl, now 21, said: "I'll spend the rest of my days looking over my shoulder. And I fear he'll do the same to someone else as he did to me."

Horgan, whose youngest victim was TWO, was jailed for ten years in 1992. He was released on licence after two-thirds of his sentence.

Continue Reading... Labels: Lesley Molseed, Michael Horgan, Raymond Hewlett