A postgraduate theology student carried out sexual assaults on fellow students at a Scottish university after claiming he was conducting radiation testing for the Ministry of Defence following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Lord Mulholland said that Beaumont had manipulated the situation for his "own gratification" and placed him on the sex offenders' register. Mr McElroy said that one victim recalled that following the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in the former Soviet Union in 1986 it was at the forefront of everyone's minds and there were real concerns about the effects of radiation from the stricken power station.
"On hearing this the man was terrified and believed what the accused was telling him to be true," said Mr McElroy. He asked the student to come to his room at halls of residence the following day. The advocate depute said: "The man recalled he felt terrified and dismayed throughout this examination by the accused."
He calculated that over the course of the examinations Beaumont subjected him to being penetrated by the needle of a syringe more than 50 times.