Paedophile who raped boy, 4, claimed victim ‘asked him to do it’

A PENSIONER raped a four-year-old boy and then claimed the child asked him to do it, a court has heard.

At the High Court in Glasgow, 68-year-old George Cameron, a registered sex offender, admitted raping the boy at his flat in the southside of Glasgow on 17 March.

The court heard that Cameron has two previous convictions for lewd and libidinous behaviour and indecency offences against young boys. In 1994 he was jailed for five years at the High Court in Glasgow.

Advocate depute Gillian Wade, prosecuting, who is head of the National Sexual Crimes Unit, told the court yesterday that Cameron lived near the child and his mother and that he had befriended them.

Miss Wade said: “They first met Cameron when he came to their door with a bag of toys. After that the mother and her son became friendly with Cameron.

“Cameron helped her by doing various errands for her and took her shopping in his car. He bought toys for the four-year-old and let him watch DVDs.

“As the year went on Cameron began to gain the confidence of the family and the mother’s trust and confidence in him grew.”

On 17 March, Cameron took the mother’s broken vacuum cleaner to his house to try to repair it and the boy went along to help.

About 15 minutes later Cameron brought the boy back and then left. He had given him a chocolate biscuit, a packet of Smarties and a yoghurt. The mother realised by the boy’s demeanour that something was wrong.

Eventually the boy told her he had been sexually abused by Cameron and she phoned the police. When Cameron was interviewed by officers he initially denied raping the boy, but eventually confessed. Cameron said: “He asked me to.”

He was asked whether he had ever done anything like that before with the boy, and replied: “No, he just thought it was like a kind of fun thing.” Cameron was asked whether he thought it was fun, and replied: “It was spur of the moment.”

Miss Wade said that the Crown was asking the court to consider a lifelong restriction order which would allow the authorities to closely monitor Cameron after his release from jail. She added: “His offending has escalated.”

Cameron was represented by QC John Hamilton, who will give his plea in mitigation at a later stage. Judge Lord Pentland placed Cameron, who is in Barlinnie Prison, on the sex offenders’ register.

He deferred sentence until 14 September at the High Court in Aberdeen and ordered a risk assessment to be carried out.