An already-imprisoned serial predator who sexually abused St Andrews University students while masquerading as an MOD employee has failed in a bid to avoid further prison time.
John Beaumont, who claimed to be taking post-Chernobyl disaster radiation samples, admitted three indecent assaults at the Fife university on fellow students in the 1980s.
Sentencing had previously been deferred for him to be assessed by forensic psychologist Dr Lorna Gray.
He posed as a government worker monitoring radiation effects on students and sexually abused them during “tests”.
His victims came forward after learning about his perversion when he was convicted in England in 2017 for similar crimes.
Beaumont appeared on Friday at the High Court in Glasgow via a video link from HMP Edinburgh, where he is serving 13-and-a-half years.
Solicitor Advocate Janice Green said Dr Gray had assessed her client as now being low risk and asked that a sentence be imposed which does not impact Beaumont’s earliest potential liberation date in 2030.
She said: “Dr Gray points to the fact that there has been no offending since 1996.
“There is a significant change in Mr Beaumont’s circumstances that would mitigate risk.
“The personality disorder that affected him is now in remission.”
She said he was showing “insight and remorse… and apparent shame.”
‘Predatory and depraved’
She added: “Having regard to the sentence imposed in 2017, if the matters – and they are connected in time and circumstances – had been prosecuted alongside these offences, it is unlikely it would have resulted in a greater sentence than 13-and-a-half years.
“The index offences here predate the 2017 offences. The accused was in his late 20s and he was a student.
“Having regard to the reduced risk and these offences being part of a course of offending, in my submission the case could be marked by a concurrent sentence.
“Having regard to the lower risk, the remorse and insight and the age of these offences, your lordship would be able to impose a concurrent sentence which would not directly affect the notional release in 2030.”
However, Lord Mulholland explained the offences from England and Fife could never have been prosecuted together due to jurisdiction issues.
He labelled Beaumont’s offending as a “gross breach of trust.”
The judge said: “Victims who fell for your deception and perversion have been affected.
“You are a predator. Your conduct was predatory and depraved.
“Looking at your criminal record, it tells me that you’re a serial offender who’s repeatedly committed very serious sexual crimes.”
Lord Mulholland imposed a consecutive prison sentence of four years and eight months, reduced from seven years due to Beaumont’s early pleas of guilty.
He added: “I do not think that it would be appropriate that this run concurrently.
“That would mean that you would not be punished in any way other than denunciation.
“I will order that that sentence should be consecutive.”
All prison sentences imposed for sexual offences in Scotland of more than 30 months carry indefinite placement on the sex offenders register.
Studying in Fife
At the High Court in Edinburgh, Beaumont, 66, previously admitted three charges of indecent assault committed against two men and a woman at the St Andrews University between 1986 and 1988.
The court previously heard how Beaumont would assault his victims after claiming he was carrying out vital testing.
As well as studying theology as a postgraduate, he was a sub-warden at the university’s halls of residence.
Chernobyl fantasist
Advocate depute John McElroy KC previously said one of the victims learned in 2022 Beaumont had been convicted of sexual offences in Manchester “that mirrored what had happened to him” and is currently serving a 13-and-a-half year jail term.
He went to police and the Fife crimes were uncovered.
Mr McElroy said one victim recalled following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion, there were global concerns about the effects of resulting radiation.
The prosecutor said: “The accused told him that he was involved in sampling members of the public based on their medical records as certain individuals had a type of protein in their systems that reacted adversely to the nuclear radiation from Chernobyl.
“The accused then said that he had been tasked to take discreet and secret samples from these individuals for monitoring.”
The sick trickster told his unwitting victim the MoD was “aware that he had this particular protein in his system and that he needed to take samples from him for his own good as he had a heightened risk of cancer.
“On hearing this the man was terrified and believed what the accused was telling him to be true.”
Beaumont asked the student to come to his room the following day.
The prosecutor said: “It was there that the accused showed him a briefcase within which he had a Geiger counter and copies of an official secrets non-disclosure agreement.
“The student also noted that there was a box of rubber gloves and some syringes.”
Beaumont asked him medical questions and said he would take samples from under his arms and his genitals.
Mr McElroy said: “Due to the fact he was terrified by the Chernobyl situation, he agreed to what the accused was saying.”
Abuse continued
He stripped and Beaumont performed an intimate “examination” including pretending to take samples with a syringe.
The advocate depute said: “The man recalled he felt terrified and dismayed throughout this examination by the accused.”
In January 1988 he was duped into the same sick procedure at the fake researcher’s hands.
The student made a diary entry in February in which he wrote: “Today I had to give J samples, which was embarrassing, but joy, all is over now. Free again.”
He calculated Beaumont penetrated him with the needle more than 50 times during the course of the abuse.
Further victims
A second student said Beaumont visited him at his own room in student accommodation with the same bizarre story.
Beaumont told him he had to sign what he claimed was the “Official Secrets Act” and asked him to remove his trousers and pants before claiming he would use what he said was a Geiger counter to take a reading and taking a sample.
Mr McElroy said the incident left the student feeling “embarrassed, awkward and anxious”.
Beaumont’s third victim was a female student.
He said he was working on behalf of the Foreign Office and got a Geiger counter and placed its probe at pulse areas on her neck and arms and at the top of her legs.
At an earlier hearing, Ms Green told the court: “No samples were in fact taken from any of the three complainers.”
Conviction welcomed
Scotland’s Procurator Fiscal for High Court Sexual Offences, Katrina Parkes, said: “John Beaumont manipulated and preyed on vulnerable students who should have been safe under his care.
“He exploited their fears and went to extreme lengths to convince them he was carrying out medical tests in an official capacity.
“His victims have shown great courage and resilience in holding this man accountable for his crimes.
“It is thanks to them that this conviction has been secured.
“I would encourage all victims of similar offending – no matter how long ago it may have occurred – to come forward, report it and seek help.”
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