Hundreds of males may face sexual offence expenses as man who pressured girl into having intercourse with strangers and filmed abuse over three many years is jailed for 16 years
Hundreds of men could be facing charges for sexual offences after a ‘predatory’ man who coerced a woman into having sex with strangers over three decades was jailed for 16 years, police have revealed.
Rodney Johnston, 67, forced the woman to take part in various sordid sex acts, sometimes lasting several hours and with up to 15 people at the same time and on several nights each week.
He arranged meetings in secluded countryside spots, as well as in hotels and in cars and would also photograph or film the abuse.
His victim, who faced ‘physical and psychological’ threats or punishments if she didn’t comply, said after the sentencing today: ‘For the first time in decades, I am free.’
Judge Alice Robinson, sitting at Norwich Crown Court, described the case as ‘harrowing’ and said the impact of the enforced orgies on the woman, who has automatic anonymity under the law, would be ‘severe and lifelong’.
‘Going out became a byword for her being raped by strangers. This is rape in all but name,’ the judge said.
Handing Johnston a life sentence with a minimum term of 16 years, she added she believed he would remain a threat to women for the rest of his life.
There was no financial motive for his ‘compulsive and obsessive’ abuse and it had been ‘a predatory lifestyle to further your perverted sexual desires’.
Rodney Johnston, 67, forced the woman to take part in various sordid sex acts, sometimes lasting several hours and with up to 15 people at the same time and on several nights each week
The pervert arranged meetings in secluded countryside spots, as well as in hotels and in cars and would also photograph or film the abuse
Speaking after the hearing, Detective Inspector Duncan Woodhams said: ‘Our focus will now shift to establishing if any further offences have been committed and, if so, we’ll conduct a thorough investigation to identify those responsible and do everything we can to bring them to justice.’
Johnston, of Startson in Norfolk, who worked as a carer, denied multiple offences between 1994 and 2024.
They included three counts of procuring a woman to have sexual intercourse by threats or intimidation, two charges of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and one count of intimidation of a witness.
Throughout his eight-week trial, which concluded in September, he denied all the charges and said the woman had consented to the meetings.
Johnston claimed liaisons he arranged through adult social networks or bulk text messages to make people aware of times and places of meetings were simply him living out a ‘fantasy’.
He told officers they were nothing more than ‘banter’.
But the investigation by Norfolk Police, who trawled through thousands of messages and images, revealed his victim regularly contacted a friend and described the abuse.
This, they said, supported her claim that she had not taken part willingly and was exploited and coerced.
Jurors were told that detectives had found 30,000 photos and videos of the abuse that had been taken over the years.
Some incidents took place in notorious ‘dogging’ sites including Thetford Forest and a road on the outskirts of Norwich.
They also heard a statement from the woman in which she said Johnston ‘took her out’ up to five nights a week, ignoring her pleas to stop.
She described herself as feeling disgusted afterwards but was threatened or punished if she didn’t go along with his perverse plans.
In a victim impact statement, the woman told the judge that Johnston had preyed on her weakness and vulnerability.
‘I found myself in a situation I never imagined I would be in,’ she said.
‘What I then went on to endure I would not wish on anybody. I had no voice, no choice.’
Johnston was a monster for whom she was ‘nothing more than an object’, she added, saying: ‘I felt dirty, sick, used, degraded, humiliated and terrified – but this became my norm.’
Johnston was convicted after an eight-week trial at Norwich Crown Court
She continued: ‘I no longer know who I am. Now I must rebuild myself and I often feel lost and unsure where to begin.
‘I feel anxious about the future but for the first time in decades I am free.’
The woman’s family members said they were ‘endlessly proud’ of her courage.
Prosecutor Stephen Rose KC said during the trial that the exploitation had involved isolating the woman from her friends and family, checking her movements with tracking devices and threatening to expose intimate personal details.
She was also made to wear provocative clothing in public, while some of the archive of photos and videos were posted online.
The exact number of men she was forced to have sex with was ‘very large’ and could be up to a thousand, the court heard.
The abuse went on even after the woman was treated for a life-threatening brain tumour and ‘callous grooming’ forced her back into participating in orgies afterwards.
Details only came to light in July 2024 when the victim’s children found explicit images and alerted police.
Judge Robinson told Johnston it was ‘difficult to comprehend how appalling his offending was’.
There were a ‘multitude of aggravating factors’, including a refusal to accept any responsibility for his actions.
DI Woodhams added outside court: ‘Today’s sentence is the result of painstaking work due to the sheer volume of evidence involved, and of course the courage of the victim in telling us about what she has endured.
‘We are grateful for her trust in us allowing us to present the full scale of Johnston’s prolonged, disturbing, and truly awful abuse.
‘Whilst this sentence cannot undo what happened to her, we hope she can now take those steps to build her life on her own terms. She has shown remarkable bravery.
‘And to anyone else who is suffering abuse, please come forward and know you will be listened to and supported.’
