January 2015

‘Black magic’ child sexual abuse couple jailed for 17 years

 

A sadistic couple who bullied a schoolgirl into submission with “black magic” threats before raping her have been jailed for 17 years, at Merthyr Crown Court.

Carolee Hickman, from St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan, told the girl, 11, she was a part of a “powerful” witches’ coven.

She then forced her to have sex with her husband, Albert.

The girl blocked it out for 40 years until it came back during counselling in 2011.

The victim, now 53, and cannot be named for legal reasons, told the trial last month that Hickman would make threats to kill her mother using black magic.

The court heard that Hickman now 64, sucked her young victim’s blood after cutting her thumb with a special “bejewelled knife”.

‘Chilling’

After the schoolgirl was held down by his wife, former RAF worker Albert Hickman, now 65, raped her.

A statement from the victim said the couple had destroyed her life and she could still not sleep with the light off.

“Forty-two years ago a little girl met two evil people who took advantage of her,” the statement read.

“My life has been destroyed at their hands.”

Sentencing the Hickmans on Thursday, Judge Dan Williams described them as chilling and said they had ruthlessly exploited their victim.

“You were a couple united by a deep-seated and overwhelming abuse of children,” he said.

“You groomed her and gained her trust, you told her you had supernatural powers and that she was the ‘chosen one’ and you put the fear of God into her.

“It was a specific targeting of a vulnerable victim and threats were made which petrified her.”

The court heard Albert Hickman was previously jailed for 10 years for raping a young girl in 1982.

The jury was also told his wife was jailed for five years in 1982 after admitting holding down a child while she was raped as part of “devil worship” which required a virgin girl.

December 2014

‘Black magic’ pair guilty of abusing girl, 11 in 1970s

A couple who used “black magic” to abuse an 11-year-old girl have been found guilty of historical sex offences.

Albert Hickman, 65, was convicted of raping the girl between 1972 and 1975 at his home in St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan.

Carolee Hickman, 64, was found guilty at Cardiff Crown Court of indecent assault and aiding and abetting rape.

The court heard she held the girl down by the arms during the rape.

She also threatened to harm her mother by using her powers as a “witch.”

The husband and wife were found guilty by a majority verdict after the jury had deliberated for five hours.

The victim, now aged in her 50s, said she went to the home while she and friends were truant from school and was plied with cigarettes and alcohol.

The court was told the couple talked with the girl about black magic and gave her tarot card readings.

The girl was made to have sex with Albert Hickman so she could be part of the couple’s “magic circle,” the jury heard.

The witness said: “Carolee said she was a witch and would come and get me and would make my mother ill – she even said she could kill my mother if she wanted to.

“She had a knife with a jewelled handle kept in a wooden box with carvings on the top. She cut my hand and sucked the blood out of it.”

The Hickmans were jailed in 1982 for similar child sex offences, the court was told.

Judge Daniel Williams remanded them in custody until sentencing.

May 2014

Occult couple previously jailed for child sex abuse, court told

A couple accused of using Devil Worship to terrify a schoolgirl who was raped and regularly abused were jailed years ago for sexually abusing other children in black magic rituals.

Carolee and Albert Hickman are jointly on trial accused of sex abuses on a child victim so traumatic she suppressed all memory of them for almost four decades.

Now aged 52 the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claims she was petrified of Hickman’s supposed powers.

Hickman, 64, is accused of preying on the Bridgend schoolgirl, convincing her she was a witch in a powerful coven linked to devil worship.

The child sex abuse allegedly began in the early 1970s, when the schoolgirl was aged 11, and continued undetected for three years.

Hickman was a housewife and her husband, now aged 65, was then an RAF mechanic at nearby St Athan.

He denies a single charge of rape. His wife denies aiding and abetting him and denies three counts of indecent assault.

Both have already been jailed for a string of child sex assaults in which black magic rituals played a part, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

Hickman was jailed for 10 years, reduced to eight on appeal, at Northampton Crown Court in 1982, after admitting five child sex abuse charges.

His wife was jailed for five years for a series of five similar charges including aiding and abetting him.

Both claim they have no memory of the schoolgirl, now a married mother, in the present case.

But the jury has heard how her childhood best-friend was banned from setting foot inside the couple’s home by her parents.

The girl’s mother recounted how her husband, who also worked for the RAF, called in military investigators because of his concerns.

Her daughter had started talking about Satan and bought a novel by popular author Dennis Wheatley, who wrote about the occult.

“I told her that no way should she be reading Dennis Wheatley. It was not the sort of thing that she should read at her age.

“I told my husband all about it because I was getting very concerned and he was really upset about it all. He said that he was going to see the (RAF) family welfare officer, and he did.

“Shortly afterwards Mr and Mrs Hickman left the area. I can’t remember the date but it was quickly.”

The jury also heard that when the couple’s present home in Shrewsbury was raided in June 2012 it was filled with books on the occult.

Detective Constable Joanne Lewis, who headed the investigation, said: “They were on book shelves, all around the floor, on surfaces. Everywhere really.”

The current alleged victim claims repressed of abuse resurfaced during bereavement counselling after the death of a son.

November 1982 – Northampton Crown Court

Satanists Malcolm and Susan Smith of Southgate Sutton Hill, Telford, and Albert and Carole  Hickman of Chockleys Meadow, Leegomery, Telford, all pleaded guilty to a series of serious sexual offences against young children.

Mrs Hickman deluded herself that she had the power of a witch and  gathered  together the  various  trappings  of  devil worship. She  conducted a Satanic wedding for her sister and brother-in-law after which Mrs Smith became a novice in devil worship. Smith believed he had the right to sex with any girl he chose, and of any  age, and encouraged the women to bring younger girls within the ring. 

One 15 year old girl who was brought in became  so convinced he was Satan that she  allowed  him  to brand her with a hot dagger, he said.

Malcolm Smith  had admitted  unlawful  sexual intercourse with a girl under 16, committing an indecent act on her, and causing her grievous bodily harm.  His wife pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting him on each  occasion.

They also both admitted two offences of indecent assaults on young girls.

Smith was jailed for 14 years. 

Hickman for ten years.

Carole Hickman for five years, and Susan for two years.

Mr. Justice Drake said he had been told Mrs Smith had since been converted back to Christianity and was seeking a divorce