Jehovah’s Witness church leader facing jail after being convicted of rape

WALES
Mirror

Jun 28, 2014 By Richard Hartley-Parkinson

Mark Sewell’s victims were forced to face their attacker in ‘judicial’ hearings organised by church elders

A Jehovah’s Witness church leader has been convicted of a string of historic sex charges.

Mark Sewell, 53, of Barry, near Cardiff, was convicted of seven indecent assaults and one rape, between 1987 and 1995.

He faces a “substantial” jail term when sentenced at Merthyr Tydfil crown court on Wednesday.

During his trial, the court heard how Sewell, a former Butlins holiday camp driver, of Porthkerry Road in Barry, used his “position of power” as an elder in the congregation to “exploit and abuse” women and children, according to Wales Online.

Prosecutor Sarah Waters said he had used his influence “to perpetrate such sexual abuse over a number of years for his own sexual gratification”.

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