Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Police hunt after court date missed
A DUNDEE hypnotherapist who sent sexual messages to a child over the course of a month is being hunted by police after failing to appear in court.
Roderick Beaumont, 60, of Lochee, ran his own life-coaching company and once told the Tele he believed he could cut health board bills by £15 million through his work.
But Beaumont, of Methven Walk, pleaded guilty earlier this year to sending a child written messages of a sexual nature on various occasions at a property in the Petersburn area of Airdrie in North Lanarkshire.
Now, the police are hunting him as he was due to be sentenced at Airdrie Sheriff Court yesterday but failed to appear.
Officers from Police Scotland have been tasked with carrying out a warrant issued by a sheriff in Airdrie, to bring Beaumont into custody so he can be sentenced.
A spokeswoman for Airdrie Sheriff Court confirmed the warrant had been ordered by Sheriff Petra Collins, who is dealing with the case.
The spokeswoman said: “He didn’t attend court and a warrant has been issued.”
Beaumont admitted sending the messages to the child on a number of occasions between December 30 last year and January 24 this year.
Sheriff Collins told Beaumont when he appeared at court in October that it was a “very serious case”.
She had asked for background reports to be prepared on him before deciding on sentence.
Sheriff Collins also asked Beaumont to be put through a risk assessment to check what kind of dangers he poses to children.
A victim impact statement from the child who had been contacted by Beaumont was called for also.
In the meantime Beaumont was placed on the sex offenders register.
One coaching website on the internet stated Beaumont has expertise in “youth impact coaching” for people aged 12 and over.
The website also said he was able to provide parent, youth and relationship coaching.
Beaumont, who was a member of the Scottish Hypnotherapy Foundation (SHF), spoke to the Tele last April claiming to be able to cure everything — from a woman’s fear of the wind, to longterm illnesses — through his work.
He said at the time that about 80% of people making use of his services were seeking help to quit smoking and of those, about 95% were successful in doing so.
He added: “Dundee in particular has a lot of people looking for help in gaining self-confidence and overcoming depression, in a way that actually works.”