The Offender Database reported that John Guile, aka John Colin Gosling, the Portslade Paedophile Barman, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2023 after a jury convicted him of 11 counts of sexually abusing two girls.
John Guile, 49, also referred to as John Colin Gosling, received a 17-year sentence, which includes an additional year on licence, at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday, 14 September.
John Guile is anticipated to serve almost 10 years prior he becoming eligible for parole consideration.
He perpetrated abuse against an 11-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl at intervals throughout a span from July 2009 to April 2019. Neither female was acquainted with the other.
At his trial in May at Hove Crown Court, the jury was informed that one of John Guile’s victims was 26 years old, while the other remained a teenager.
The former barman was employed at two Southwick pubs – the defunct Pilot and the Romans – where he developed a friendship with one of his victims during his tenure.
He used and mistreated the initial victim at several sites in Southwick, Portslade, and Brighton. He abused another individual while residing in the Patcham district of Brighton.
Following his departure from the Pilot pub, which ceased operations in 2010, he began employment at Romans; however, the management has since undergone changes. Subsequently, he became a window installer and cleaning contractor.
He resided at the Romans bar on Manor Hall Road, as well as on Abinger Road in Portslade, Old Shoreham Road, and Midhurst Rise in Brighton.
The jury delivered unanimous guilty verdicts on many crimes, including five counts of sexual behaviour with a minor.
At Lewes Crown Court, Sarah Lindop, prosecuting, read a victim’s personal statement prepared by one of the girls, Louise.
She said: “Not only did he take away my innocence, but my teenage years and adult years. I still have nightmares and flashbacks because of what he did to me.
“John started abusing me when I was a young teenager. I was at a vulnerable age and at the weakest point in my life.”
Louise spoke of having been scarred and how John Guile had changed her life forever, leaving her feeling panic and humiliation at times and with mental health problems, social phobia and emotional numbness. At times, she had even had suicidal feelings.
She said, “Emotionally, the abuse has torn me to pieces. You made me feel like a piece of meat. You decided to make me your prey.”
She also said: “I ask to be given the gift of knowing exactly where John is at all times so that I can truly live – and I ask that the public be given that gift as well.
“Do not devalue my life so much as to ask me to share the time he deserves to serve for my body and my life, at the same time as his other victim.
“She and I are two separate individuals that he exploited at separate times. This is a crime against individual human beings.
“Do not continue the course of history where women’s lives matter less by grouping us into some cattle, the same way John herded his victims – as disposable.”
During his trial, John Guile did not go into the witness box to give evidence himself. He denied that he had sexually abused either of the complainants.
At Lewes Crown Court yesterday, Miss Lindop said that some of the offences carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Andrew Selby, who defended John Guile, said: “He has been convicted of immensely serious offences and he will be punished accordingly if he serves a determinate sentence.”
John Guile was sentenced by Judge Stephen Mooney, who was also the trial judge and who said that he was a dangerous offender who posed a serious risk to children.
Judge Mooney told John Guile that he had been convicted of 11 offences against two children and said: “Both bear the mental scars of what you did to them.
“Your selfish actions have impacted the lives of those you abused. All you were interested in was sex. You treated both of these children as objects to provide you with sexual gratification.”
Unbelievably, the judge jailed Guile for 16 years, and not for life, which would have offered far more protection to children in the future, and ordered him to serve a further year on licence and told him to register as a sex offender for life.
He imposed a “sexual harm prevention order” and made an indefinite restraining order not to contact either victim.
After John Guile was found guilty, Louise said, “As a victim, you’re made to not want to come forward about these types of cases.
“It’s been a very overwhelming experience for everyone involved. I hope this story can encourage others to come forward. Our voice is never silent for long.”
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