Cult member pleads guilty to raping and sexually assaulting two children

Derek Lincoln was extradited from France to face the charges.

A former cult member has pleaded guilty to the rape and sexual assault of two young children in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Derek Lincoln, from Glasgow, was extradited from France in 2019 on a European arrest warrant after a five-year-long investigation into the “Children of God” cult.

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The 74-year-old was alleged to have raped and sexually assaulted a number of little girls while a member of the religious sect.

Derek Lincoln, from Glasgow, was extradited from France in 2019 on a European arrest warrant after a five-year-long investigation into the “Children of God” cult.Derek Lincoln, from Glasgow, was extradited from France in 2019 on a European arrest warrant after a five-year-long investigation into the “Children of God” cult.
Derek Lincoln, from Glasgow, was extradited from France in 2019 on a European arrest warrant after a five-year-long investigation into the “Children of God” cult.

He was arrested by Police Scotland on October 8, 2019, pleading guilty at Glasgow High Court on Monday to raping and sexually assaulting two female children aged 9 and 11 years between 1989 and 1991 in Scotland.

He will be sentenced at a later date.

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David Berg, who founded Children of God in the United States in the late 1960s, claimed that, because God was love and love was sex, there should be no limits on sexual relationships - including with children and family members.

In Scotland, it operated at sites in Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Edinburgh.

One survivor, who was born into the cult in Scotland, told BBC News in 2018 that the abuse she suffered as a child was “hell on earth”, adding that its doctrine “actively encouraged sexual activities among minors as young as two or three years old.”

Detective Sergeant Neil Wilson from Police Scotland’s Specialist Crime Division National Rape Task Force said: “The arrest of Derek Lincoln followed a five year complex investigation involving partnership working both nationally and internationally.

“My thoughts continue to remain with the victims and those impacted by Lincoln’s actions over many years. Thanks to the bravery of them coming forward and reporting to us, he will now face the consequences of his actions.

"We remain committed to bringing sexual offenders before the courts and treat all reports of sexual crime with the utmost seriousness. Anyone wishing to report such offences should do so to Police Scotland via 101."

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