John Beaumont, the Chernobyl Disaster Sex Offender, a theology student who perpetrated sexual assaults during fraudulent radiation examinations after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, has been sentenced to an additional four years and eight months in prison.
From 1986 until 1988, John Beaumont, currently 66, focused on three fellow students at St Andrews University—two males and one female—by claiming he was performing radiation tests.
John Beaumont, a former trainee church minister and funeral celebrant, pleaded guilty at a court in Edinburgh in October 2023 to three counts of indecent assault.
He is presently serving a 13-and-a-half-year sentence after confessing to analogous charges at a court in Manchester in 2017.
Prosecutor John McElroy KC stated at the prior hearing that one victim remembered concerns regarding the consequences of radiation following the Chernobyl nuclear tragedy in the former Soviet Union.
John Beaumont thereafter asserted that he was employed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and presented a form of identification to the fellow student.
He stated he was doing “sampling” because specific individuals have “a type of protein” that exhibited negative reactions to the nuclear radiation from Chernobyl.
Mr McElroy stated, “John Beaumont indicated that he had been assigned to collect discreet and confidential samples from these individuals for monitoring purposes.”
John Beaumont asserted that the testing was for the victim’s “own benefit” due to his heightened cancer risk.
The counsel depute stated: “Upon hearing this, the man was filled with terror and accepted John Beaumont’s assertions as truth.”
John Beaumont presented a briefcase containing a Geiger counter and copies of an Official Secrets non-disclosure agreement.
A box of rubber gloves and several syringes were also there.
Mr McElroy said: “The man recalled he felt terrified and dismayed throughout this examination by John Beaumont.”
John Beaumont later told the man that the MoD was “happy” with the test results, but added that further checks on the victim were required.
In a diary entry, the student wrote: “Today I had to give J samples, which was embarrassing, but joy, all is over now. Free again.”
He calculated that John Beaumont subjected him to being jabbed by a syringe more than 50 times.
The second male victim said John Beaumont told him he needed to assess radiation in his body and was instructed to sign the Official Secrets Act.
The third student described John Beaumont as very convincing, leading her to undress in front of him before being assaulted.
Janice Green, the defendant’s attorney, requested that the judge have the sentences run concurrently.
She said: “There was no physical injury, but psychological harm, which is more connected to the breach of trust, as the victims all believed for a long time that they were part of research.
“It wasn’t until 2017, when matters were public, that they became aware.
“They came forward in 2022, and it is not clear why that was.
“If these matters had been prosecuted along with the other offences, it is unlikely to have been a greater sentence than 13-and-a-half years.”
Lord Mulholland told John Beaumont that he carried out a “gross breach of trust” on his victims.
The judge said: “You pled guilty to three very serious cases of indecent assaults perpetrated on three young impressionable students at the university where you were a student and a warden.
“You preyed on their experience and pretended to be employed by the Ministry of Defence to take samples to check for radiation levels after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.”
He said the samples were taken from intimate areas of the students’ bodies.
“You are predatory and used your status and maturity to prey on them,” the judge added.
“I don’t think it is appropriate that the sentence runs concurrently, as that will mean you won’t be punished in any way other than denunciation for the offences you pleaded guilty to.
“I order that this run consecutively to the sentence you are already subject to.”
John Beaumont had been working as a self-employed funeral celebrant for 17 years.
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