Fugitive child sex beast who duped border police at Edinburgh Airport is back in Scottish jail

A fugitive sex beast spent nearly three years on the run after duping border patrol police at Edinburgh Airport into letting him leave the country.

Former teacher and self-styled lifestyle guru Roderick Beaumont spent time on the run in Amsterdam, Rome and Albania after being convicted of child sex crimes.

Beaumont, 65, then moved to Mexico where he met and married a local woman before eventually being found and recaptured by police.

The paedophile skipped bail while he was waiting to be sentenced in December 2016 for grooming a 15-year-old schoolboy, and flew out of Edinburgh with 9,000 euros in cash.

Beaumont, 65, moved to Mexico where he met and married a local woman before eventually being found and recaptured by police.

His bail terms prevented him traveling outwith the UK without first informing police as part of the terms of being on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

Despite the alarm being raised by airport staff in December 2016, Beaumont managed to persuade border command police he was intending to return from a holiday in Albania. He had a return ticket which added to the plausibility of this.

It was around two and a half years later that Beaumont was eventually captured in Mexico, where he was held in jail for a year waiting to be extradited.

But earlier this week at Dundee Sheriff Court, justice finally caught up with Beaumont as he was jailed for a year for fleeing the country after failing to tell the police he was going abroad.

Former teacher and self-styled lifestyle guru Roderick Beaumont spent time on the run in Amsterdam, Rome and Albania after being convicted of child sex crimes.

Beaumont, of Methven Walk in Dundee, admitted that between November 27 and December 3, 2016 he failed to give the police notification of his travel plans.

He admitted knowing that he intended to travel to Amsterdam, Rome, Albania and Mexico on December 3, 2016 in breach of the Sexual Offences Act. He was on bail from Airdrie Sheriff Court at the time.

While he was on the run, an English court ran a historic sex abuse case against him for offences he committed while he was a teacher nearly 40 years ago. Beaumont was found guilty and sentenced to four years imprisonment and had a further five years extended sentence added by the judge who branded him "a clear and present danger to children."

He appeared this week via video link from HMP Barlinnie Prison and fiscal depute Marie Irvine told the court: "He normally resides in Dundee and has a number of previous convictions.

"On 25 October 2016 he was convicted at Airdrie Sheriff Court and was subject to the sex offenders notification requirements. Sentence was deferred until 5 December 2016 and he was released on bail.

"About 10.15 am on Saturday 3 December 2016, Border Policing Command based at Edinburgh Airport were notified by security staff that the accused was passing through Edinburgh airport in possession of 9,000 euro in cash.

"Officers stopped and interviewed the accused and he stated that he was travelling to Amsterdam, onwards to Rome and then onto his final destination, Tirana in Albania.

"He was travelling alone and stated he had a return ticket with a return date of 12 December 2016," Miss Irvine said.

"When questioned about the cash, the accused stated he was using it to research and make a down payment for an apartment for him and his mother to ultimately move to.

"He appeared to be travelling with minimal luggage and his story appeared consistent with the way he presented, and he gave no additional cause for concern at this time.

"Enquiries were made which revealed his registered sex offender status and restrictions. There was no cause or reason identified at that time to prevent his travel and, as such, he was afforded his onward journey.

"Witness Detective Constable Cooper notified Dundee Offender Management Unit and further inquiry was made. It was confirmed the accused had breached his SONR by failing to advise of his intended foreign travel within the required seven day before travel period.”

He failed to appear at Airdrie Sheriff Court on December 5 2016 and failed to return to the UK a week later.

The National Crime Agency traced the accused in Mexico and he was arrested on March 11, 2019. He was held until 9 December 2020, when he was deported.

Beaumont arrived in Glasgow the next day where he was arrested and taken to Cathcart Police HQ.

Intention to return to Mexico

Solicitor Philip Cohen, defending, said: "Arguably, he ought to have been arrested at the airport, because he was in breach of the requirements.

"But, for whatever reason, he wasn't noticed on the police system and was allowed to travel. Nevertheless he ended up in Mexico and was living there.

"He got married there and lived with his wife until he was arrested on the extradition warrant in March 2019. That related to the Airdrie Sheriff Court case.

"He appeared in Airdrie Sheriff Court on 17 February this year and was sentenced to 12 months prison from that date.

"What has complicated matters is that there was another case at Warwick Crown Court. That appears to have been dealt with in his absence and he was sentenced to four years imprisonment on 22 November 2017.

"He didn't know about that, but the police officer who brought him back from Mexico mentioned it to him.

"In one sense he has suffered, but clearly that has been from his own actions. He has been in custody since March 2019.

"He clearly knew what he was doing. He has not tried to evade his culpability. He is realistic enough to know the court has no choice but to impose a custodial sentence.

"His intention at some point is to return to Mexico when he is liberated. He is anxious to have the matter dealt with."

Jailing Beaumont for a year, Sheriff Alistair Carmichael said: "In all the circumstances only a custodial sentence is appropriate, which I think you know.

"I am taking into account the circumstances of the offence and the age of it, although a lot of that is down to you because you didn't come back to the UK."

Detective Superintendent Ian Gardner, head of Border Policing Command at Police Scotland, said: “Police Scotland officers at Edinburgh Airport acted with the information that they could establish at that time and had no grounds at that point to prevent travel.”

A call was made to the sex offender management unit at the time but no one was available, and Beaumont was allowed to travel.

Historic abuse

Roderick Fraser Beaumont was born in Gourock in 1955 and has worked as a teacher and a pilot before reinventing himself as a monk and lifestyle guru in Mexico

He changed his name to Rodrigo de la Cruz after arriving in Mexico City and was reported to be living with a teenage boy he introduced as his “nephew.”

His location was revealed after he conned a woman into giving him cash to pay for his 87-year-old mother Catherine's funeral, although she remains alive and living in Dundee today.

In 2017, Beaumont was branded "a clear and present danger to children" by judge Andrew Lockhart QC at Warwick Crown Court.

He was found guilty of two child sex assault charges and was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

During a school trip with a group of youngsters in 1979 or 1980, Beaumont, then a teacher in Solihull, Warwickshire, got a boy aged eight or nine out of his bed and took him into another room, where he got the child to perform a sex act on him.

Then, on a later occasion at Beaumont's home, he fondled the boy and got him to touch him. The offences came to light decades later.

Prosecutor Graeme Simpson said the offences predated an indecent assault on a child under the age of 16 in 1983, for which Beaumont appeared at the court in 1984 and was given a six-month suspended sentence.

Beaumont worked as a flying instructor in the US in the 1980s and has also presented himself as an English language teacher, yoga instructor and youth coach.

In an interview available online, he describes himself as "motivational, inspirational, professional and above all authentic."

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