May 2022 Pub landlord jailed after raping girl, eight, then threatening to kill her if she told anyone A pub landlord abused multiple girls including raping an eight-year-old girl and threatening to kill her if she told anyone what had happened to her. Carl Marland, 58, carried out a series of sexual assaults on several young girls he had groomed with expensive gifts and drugs. Marland, of Ilford in London, was convicted of more than 20 offences after a trial at Manchester Crown Court. The court heard that after raping the eight-year-old, Marland told the victim he would kill her if she told anyone what he had done to her. On another occasion, Marland sexually assaulted the girl before holding a knife to her neck. Marland would travel to Manchester from London, where he ran a pub, most weeks from June 2020 to December 2020 to visit the girls and their families to carry out his attacks. He would groom the four girls – whose ages ranged from eight to 16 – giving them gifts of clothes and money, as well as drugs and alcohol. The paedophile set up a bank account for one of the girls and transferred around £3,000 to her, and would drive the girls around in his car, where much of the abuse took place. Police became aware of Marland when one of the girls’ mothers found inappropriate messages from him on her phone in November 2020. When he was arrested in January 2021, officers seized a ‘Rambo-style’ knife and a mobile phone, which Marland had used to contact his victims. In total, Marland was found guilty of the following offences: 3x counts of Rape of a child under 13  Causing a child to watch a sexual act 5 counts of Sexual assault of a child under 13  Assault of a child by penetration 2 counts of Voyeurism  2 counts of Making indecent images of a child  3 counts of Sexual activity with a child  Engaging with sexual communication with a child 3 counts of Causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity  3 counts of Supplying class B drugs  Supplying class C drugs