Shrewsbury couple jailed for 'black magic' rape of schoolgirl
A couple who bullied a schoolgirl into submission with "black magic" threats before she was raped have been jailed for 17 years.
Carolee Hickman told the 11-year-old she was part of a "powerful" witches' coven before forcing her to have sex with her husband, Albert.
The couple, who live in Baschurch, carried out the offences at their former home in Athan, near Cardiff.
Their victim, who is now in her 50s and cannot be named for legal reasons, blocked out memories of the abuse for almost four decades until they came back during counselling for bereavement and depression in 2011.
She told the Hickmans' trial at Cardiff Crown Court last month that Mrs Hickman would make threats to kill her mother using black magic. The court heard that Mrs Hickman, now 64, sucked her young victim's blood after cutting her thumb with a special "bejewelled knife".
After the schoolgirl was held down by his wife, former RAF worker Mr Hickman, now 65, then raped her.
A statement from the victim said the Hickmans had destroyed her life.
Passing sentence at Merthyr Crown Court, Judge Daniel Williams described the couple's abuse as chilling and said they had ruthlessly exploited their victim. He said: "Carolee, you told your victim that you were a witch that had supernatural powers.
"You put the fear of God into her and you told her that you had made her mother ill and that you could kill her family if she told anyone what you had done."
The Hickmans were jailed in 1982 for a separate offence. However Judge Williams said the abuse in the 1980s could have been prevented had police properly investigated the rape of the 11-year-old some 10 years earlier.
