Vile child rapist jailed

A child rapist who was caught after he recorded himself abusing a little girl has been jailed for five years and four months.

Alan Johnson filmed and photographed sex assaults he perpetrated on the five-year-old, with some footage showing a distinctive black sports watch he wore.

Police turned up at his former home in Stirling with a search warrant after they received information about potential child pornography offences.

When officers asked him if there were any indecent images of children on devices he said: “Just the phone.”

But when experts looked at the phone they realised that as well as images downloaded from the internet there were home made abuse videos.

Johnson later revealed he had assaulted a child when she was asleep before telling her he was checking a wobbly tooth when she woke up.

He claimed he downloaded the indecent material because of continuing stress at work.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard the first offender was an engineering manager with a distillery firm in Glasgow but his employment had been terminated.

Advocate depute Keith O’Mahony said: “He said he viewed the images as a distraction and was usually intoxicated when viewing these, often deleting the images in the morning.”

But police also realised Johnson had taken photos of girls himself and a search through his phone and its SIM card revealed his abuse of the child.

A total of 192 images were found along with five short movie clips.

Some of the footage taken by Johnson showed his hand with a ring and with him wearing the distinctive sports watch.

During a police interview he also admitted that he had taken naked photos of a girl aged 10.

The prosecutor said: “He also admitted randomly taking photographs of teenage girls in public, discreetly and without their knowledge, but deleted these images after viewing.”

Johnson (44), a prisoner of Low Moss Jail, admitted possessing indecent images of children on October 2 last year and making such photos between August 5 and October 2.

He also pled guilty to the oral rape of the five-yeargirl last year and to sexually assaulting the child. All the offences were committed in his home town.

A judge told Johnson: “The consequences of your actions have undoubtedly been devastating.”

Lady Carmichael said: “I take into account you have not offended before, that you are genuinely remorseful and have insight into the consequences of your offending.”

The judge said he would have faced an eight-year prison sentence, but for his guilty pleas.

Johnson was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely.

Defence solicitor advocate Ian Bryce said: “He is motivated to change and has profound remorse for his actions.”