Five men, including a former professional wrestler, a radio presenter and a civil servant, have been found guilty of being members of a “predatory paedophile ring” that preyed on vulnerable boys in north Wales in the 1970s and 1980s.



Boys as young as 10, who were often isolated, were manipulated by the men and groomed with treats ranging from alcohol to car trips and meals. They were plied with amyl nitrite, or “poppers”, and passed around the group, sometimes given money to buy their silence.

The five men were convicted of a total of 34 offences after they were investigated by officers from Operation Pallial, which was launched in 2012 at the height of the swirl of false allegations linking the Tory peer Lord McAlpine to child abuse in the Wrexham area.



Ian Mulcahey, senior investigating officer, said the five men convicted at Mold crown court after a two-month long trial had worked together as a “predatory group of paedophiles”.

He said: “The boys were young, vulnerable, sometimes isolated by family circumstances and manipulated by this group. They were no doubt chosen for these reasons and were groomed using a variety of treats including alcohol, car trips, pornography and above all attention. They were sexually abused and passed around by the group.

“The range of occupations these men had could not have been more different, but their real common interest lay in the abuse of young children. Their grooming was carefully planned and continued over the period of the victims’ childhoods.”

The men were convicted in relation to five boys aged 10-15. Mulcahey added: “The victims in this case have been brave in coming forward, firstly to speak to the Operation Pallial team and latterly to give evidence at court, and I would like to personally thank them for the courage they have shown.”

Gary Cook, also known as Mark Grainger, 64, a former professional wrestler from Leicester, was found guilty of 16 counts of sexual abuse. David Lightfoot, 72, a publican in Wrexham in the 1980s, from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, was convicted of nine offences. Marc Norry, 55, a former local radio presenter from Connah’s Quay, Flintshire, was found guilty of six offences.

Eddie Huxley, 70, a retired Wrexham civil servant from Maidenhead, Berkshire, was found guilty of two offences. George Phoenix, a former bus driver from Wrexham, was convicted of one count of sexual abuse. All will be sentenced in September.

Roger Griffiths, 76, a teacher from Wrexham, was found not guilty of two counts of sexual abuse and Keith Stokes, 62, a former abattoir manager and haulier from Chester, was cleared of seven counts.

Eleanor Laws QC, prosecuting, had told the jury that Cook was at the centre of the ring. She said boys were abused at his house in a village just outside Wrexham, at a bar called Snowy’s owned by Lightfoot, and at other addresses in the area.

Ed Beltrami, chief crown prosecutor of CPS Wales, said: “This abhorrent paedophile gang targeted young and vulnerable boys in a systematic and devious manner. The vulnerability of the victims made them easy prey for the gang.

“Once again, Operation Pallial and prosecution teams are indebted to the courage shown by the victims of these awful offences. Their fortitude in coming forward to report what happened to them has led to these convictions.

“Whilst the criminal justice process cannot put right the wrongs committed by these individuals, we hope that the victims will take some solace in knowing that their abusers have been brought to justice. We also hope it may comfort them to know that by their courage others may come forward and report crimes of this nature,” he added.

The launch of Operation Pallial was announced by the home secretary, Theresa May, after the discredited BBC Newsnight report in which a former children’s home resident claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative from the Thatcher era. McAlpine was widely identified on Twitter and elsewhere on the internet as the Tory referred to, until a Guardian investigation concluded he was the victim of mistaken identify.