Zara Phythian and Victor Marke were convicted of 14 child sex offenses, while Marke was found guilty of an additional four charges with another child
Zara Phythian and her husband Victor Marke have been found guilty of having sex with a 13-year-old girl — and, in Marke’s case, also sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl.
Multiple outlets, including the BBC and the Nottingham Post, report that Phythian, 37, was convicted on Wednesday at the U.K.’s Nottingham Crown Court of 14 charges of sexual activity with a child between 2005 and 2008, starting when the girl was 13 years old.
On top of the same 14 counts, Marke, 59, was found guilty of an additional four counts of indecent assault against another woman from 2002 to 2003, when she was 15 years old.
According to the BBC, a police interview with the first victim was played last month at Nottingham Crown Court in the U.K., in which she alleged Marke and Phythian sexually abused her between the ages of 13 and 15.
“I knew it was wrong but I just didn’t know how to get out of the situation or say anything,” she said, per the BBC.
Reps for Phythian and Marke did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment about the charges or convictions.
Zara Phythian and Victor Marke | CREDIT: TOM MADDICK/SWNS
The first victim described looking up to Phythian, who was working as a martial-arts instructor in Nottinghamshire, U.K., at the time, as was Marke.
She alleged that Phythian and Marke gave her alcohol before Phythian dared her to perform oral sex on Marke, who reportedly was not yet married to Phythian but to another woman at the time.
“I remember trying to copy Zara’s reaction at the time because I looked up to her and tried to be like her,” the woman said, according to the BBC. She said that Marke then had sex with both Phythian and the plaintiff.
The woman told police that Marke told her no one “would believe” her and threatened to harm her if she said anything, adding of the couple, “They always had a power over me,” per the BBC.
Zara Phythian and Victor Marke | CREDIT: TOM MADDICK/SWNS
Along with the charges brought against Phythian and Marke from that plaintiff, Marke faced four more from another woman alleging he sexually abused her from 2002 to 2003, starting when she was 15 years old.
According to The Nottingham Post, the latter woman said Marke began having sex with her when she was 16. Phythian and Mark have reportedly denied all allegations from both plaintiffs.
“I want to thank the two victims who have showed great courage in coming forward and talking about their ordeal,” senior investigating officer Parminder Dhillon said following the verdict, the Nottingham Post reports. “Although no punishment handed down by a court can undo the lifelong damage caused to the them, I do hope they take some degree of comfort from the knowledge that justice has now been done.”
Dhillon reportedly added, “I hope this case serves as a reminder to others — that we treat all allegations of sexual abuse with the utmost seriousness and that, even in cases where offences occurred many years ago, we will thoroughly investigate and we will do everything in our power to bring perpetrators to justice.”
By Jen Juneau –PEOPLE.COM
