Couple took cash for 'loaning adopted girls to paedophiles'

By JAMES SLACK

A couple adopted two girls and allowed them to be subjected to horrific sexual abuse in exchange for money, a court heard yesterday.

The man and wife passed a number of checks that allowed them to adopt when the younger girl was just five.

But after two years the husband began to sexually assault her, a jury was told.

Later, allegedly with the full knowledge of the wife, they allowed both girls to be minded after school by a pair of paedophiles, the court heard.

When one of the children told her adoptive mother what was going on, she replied, 'Just leave it, we'll have to see what happens'.

She later added that she could do nothing, as one of the men 'helped us with money and a car', it is alleged.

One of the abusers, Colin Molloy, now 46, was jailed indefinitely last year for nine counts of raping the younger girl when she was eight.

Samuel Nelson, 43, who preyed on the older girl, was given nine years.

Yesterday, the adoptive parents stood trial over their alleged role.

The husband, who along with his wife cannot be named for legal reasons, abused the younger girl over a six-year period, Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, heard.

While the sexual assaults were taking place, the couple also started 'loaning' the sisters to Molloy and Nelson to abuse them after school, the jury was told.

Prosecutor Michael Lavery said: 'This couple failed to protect both girls.

They gave them to two men who were sexual predators.

'They were told what was happening to the girls but did nothing.'

The abuse by the adoptive father began when the younger girl was just seven, Mr Lavery alleged.

The couple then began allowing Nelson to look after the girls after school, the court heard, and he began abusing the older girl, who was 13 at the time.

Meanwhile Molloy was given access to the younger girl and subjected her to a campaign of rape and abuse, said Mr Lavery, beginning in 2007 when she was just eight.

The court heard the father apologised to the girl after hurting her but continued to abuse her.

'He said he loved her and would not hurt her,' he said.

But the adoptive father then told her 'I have to get something out of this' when he continued the abuse, it is alleged.

'Not only had he exposed her to a paedophile, but he had been abusing her for six years as well,' said Mr Lavery. The alleged abuse only came to light when one of the girls told a teacher that an 'uncle' had been touching her.

The girls were removed from the family home last year.

The older girl, now 16, later told police her adoptive father would beat her if she refused his sexual advances, leaving her 'bruised and sore'.

'He said he wanted to have sex with me,' she told officers in an interview played to the jury.

'I said, "Why would I want to do that?"

'He said, "Because I love you." 'But I said, "You are supposed to love me as a daughter, not like this. That is not loving someone".'

The court heard how he even abused her when his wife was in the same room.

The 55-year-old adoptive father denies 15 counts of indecent assault and indecency with a child.

He and his wife, 54, also deny five counts of child neglect.

The case continues.