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  Churchgoer Groomed Young Girls for Sex by Reading Them Bible Extracts

By Adam Fresco
The Times
October 16, 2009

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6877354.ece

A churchgoer who groomed young girls for sex by reading them extracts from the Bible faces life in jail after being convicted of a catalogue of crimes.

Gene Morrison, 51, targeted vulnerable young girls to satisfy his perverted fantasies, including the rapes of two girls aged 10 and 11.

He was unmasked as a sexual predator after his victims discovered that he had been jailed in 2007 for masquerading as a forensic scientist supplying potentially flawed evidence in 700 trials across Britain.

Morrison, a karate expert who also ran a Thai boxing club and was nicknamed "Rocky", was described in court as a superficially charming and charismatic man who infiltrated the lives of those he abused over nearly 30 years.

His victims included vulnerable mothers, one of whom Morrison met through his church and promised to marry, saying, "I'm your saviour", Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, was told.

Morrison, who attended a Seventh Day Adventist church in Stockport, Greater Manchester, was convicted of raping two girls under 13, six counts of indecent assault, four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child and one count of perverting the course of justice. All the victims were aged under 16 at the time.

He was cleared of assaulting two other young women, and jurors were unable to reach verdicts involving another four.

He was remanded in custody to face sentence in December after prosecutors offered no further evidence over the undecided charges.

Morrison had denied 33 charges. He has two previous convictions for assaulting women: one he punched and the other was slapped across the face. In cross-examination, Morrison conceded that he had "struck out" against women but did not class it as violence.

Accused of being hypocritical as far as his religious beliefs were concerned, Morrison said that his religion was the "guiding light in his life" and that he tried to "copy the example of Jesus Christ", but admitted "drifting away from the path sometimes".

After his convictions for the fraud, his victims, some of whom he met through the Church, came forward to tell police that they had been attacked by Morrison. It was said that he gave some of them money and gifts or resorted to violence so that he could control them.

Neil Flewitt, QC, for the prosecution, said: "This man is a sexual predator with a particular interest in young woman, and by young I mean under-age girls.

"He is a superficially charming and charismatic man who has over many years infiltrated the lives of a large number of vulnerable mothers and children for the specific purpose of satisfying his own warped sexual desires.

"He would befriend them, and the trust of their families so he could take them home a sexually abuse them. He manipulated and groomed his victims by making them feel safe and special."

When he was jailed in 2007 he was described as an "inveterate and compulsive liar" who had tricked judges, police and lawyers by producing bogus quaifications he had downloaded from the internet.

While running the Hyde-based Criminal and Forensic Investigations Bureau he was been paid at least £250,000 in taxpayers' money for his "expert" advice.

 
 

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