March 2007 Pervert preacher jailed for abusing girl A street preacher in Bradford has been jailed for sexually abusing a young girl. Owen Watt, 40, was branded a predatory paedophile by the child’s mother after he was locked up for two years by a judge at Leeds Crown Court. She labelled him dangerous and manipulative and said she was relieved he was now behind bars. Watt, the Bradford leader of a Leeds-based religious group, Faith Ministries, was told by Judge Scott Wolstenholme yesterday that he had “abused the girl’s trust in the grossest way”. Watt, a fervent gospel preacher, had been earlier convicted of three offences of sexually abusing the girl, whose identity is protected by law, over an eight-year period. A jury at Bradford Crown Court heard in January that he ordered her to rub him with oil when she was seven years old. He went on to indecently assault her on two further occasions when she was in her early teens. Watt was found guilty on a majority verdict of one charge of gross indecency with a child and two of indecent assault. He had been remanded in custody until he was sentenced. Prosecutor Stephen Wood told yesterday’s hearing that the girl confided to a relative that Watt had abused her. Her mother confronted him and he admitted to her what he had done, Mr Wood said. But when he was arrested in June 2005 and interviewed by the police he denied all the allegations. The court heard that Watt had a previous conviction for causing a former partner actual bodily harm. He had also committed theft and road traffic offences. The son of a church minister, he is married and his wife was in court. Judge Wolstenholme said Watt abused the child for his own sexual gratification, causing her confusion and shame. He told Watt: “They are serious offences and there has to be a custodial sentence.” Although the girl alleged he continued to abuse her in her teens, Watt had not been convicted of any offences relating to that. But Judge Wolstenholme said he must consider the protection of the public. Watt had no insight into his offending because he was in denial, he added. Watt, of Scott Hall Grove, Potter Newton, Leeds, was jailed for two years but the judge passed an extended four-year sentence. He warned Watt that when he is released he will be supervised for a further two years and any breach could mean he would be returned to jail. “For a substantial time, you will have the threat of prison hanging over you,” he said. Watt was also banned from working with children and ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register for ten years. Steven Utley, Watt’s barrister, said he continued to maintain his innocence. Mr Utley accepted that prison was inevitable and said the sentence would have a significant impact on Watt’s wife. She had already sold his car and belongings to make ends meet. Mr Utley said Watt had been suicidal when locked up after the trial but he was being supported by his wife and parents and he was now feeling more positive. After the case, the girl’s mother, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, said her daughter was very traumatised and needed counselling. She branded Watt a danger to young girls. She told how he had put a ring on the girl’s finger and told her: “You’re mine.” “She was controlled and manipulated by him,” she said. The girl’s aunt said: “He is suffering from some kind of psychosis. “He hid his true character behind the church.” Watt proclaims on a Faith Ministries’ website that the Lord led him to his preaching mission. He says he has been arrested 13 times for preaching and spent time in jail for his faith. Detailing his court appearances on the site, he states: “The Lord provided for all these fines, as usual.” Watt says healing, deliverance and salvation “occur as a matter of course” when the ministries’ preachers are in action in places including Bradford and Cleckheaton. The website, headed Signs and Wonders on British Streets, claims a boy in Bradford was immediately cured of “a terrible case of being cross-eyed” when a team member prayed for him. Other members of the public in the region’s towns have crumpled to the floor, become transfixed and been instantly healed, it is claimed.