A PERV who used the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster as a ruse to sexually assault three people has been jailed.
John Beaumont, 66, pretended to be a Ministry of Defence official when he was a theology student at St Andrews University in Fife between 1986 and 1988.
His deceit was part of a sinister plot to convince fellow students to let him perform medical examinations which he claimed were linked to the 1986 catastrophe in Russia.
Details of his sick plan emerged at the High Court in Glasgow where he was today caged for four years and eight months.
The oddball had earlier pleaded guilty to three charges of indecent assault at the High Court in Edinburgh in October.
The court heard Beaumont produced false identification and consent forms as part of his scam before subjecting two men and a woman to the bogus ‘medical exams’.
After striking up a friendship with one man, Beaumont claimed he had been tasked with taking secret samples from members of the public by the MoD.
He stated the man’s medical records put him at heightened risk of developing cancer, leaving him ‘terrified’ and believing his health was in danger.
The man was later summoned to Beaumont’s room where he was told to sign a false Official Secrets non-disclosure agreement .
The sicko even warned the man he would be charged by the authorities if he breached it.
Beaumont then assaulted the man while claiming to take samples from him with a hypodermic needle, later performing several more examinations.
Beaumont, who became a sub warden at the uni’s halls of residence during this period of offending, then targeted a second man between 1987 and 1988.
He believed Beaumont’s claims about the ‘secret mission’ after seeing press coverage about radiation blowing over the UK after the 1986 Chernobyldisaster.
The victim recalled feeling “embarrassed, awkward and anxious” after Beaumont took a sample with a syringe.
A woman was then approached by Beaumont in 1988 who told her he’s been asked to test her radiation levels by the Foreign Office.
She recalled that he was “very convincing” and she agreed to the test at the halls involving a Geiger counter.
After he was caged, 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.”
It emerged during an earlier hearing one of his Scots victims contacted cops in 2022 after learning Beaumont had been convicted of near-identical offences in 2017.
That saw him jailed for 13 years at Manchester Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to indecent assault and causing actual bodily harm.
Judge Lord Mulholland placed Beaumont on the sex offenders register and told him: “What you did was depraved and deceitful.’
The sentence will run consecutively with the jail time he is currently serving in England.