The owner of a children’s adventure holiday island was jailed for 18 months yesterday after a sheriff ruled he had “abused his position of power” when he groped young boys in his care.
Oban Sheriff Court heard Torquil Johnson-Ferguson suffered a heart attack after he was convicted of abusing three youngsters who attended his outdoor courses in the 1980s.
The 65-year-old returned to court for sentencing yesterday after a jury found him guilty of using indecent behaviour last month.
During a seven-day trial, his victims were moved to tears as they described how he had touched them inappropriately between 1981 and 1986.
Two of the incidents happened in a cave during a camping expedition and another in a peat bog at the bottom of a zip slide.
Sheriff Ruth Anderson told him his actions were still having an impact on the men’s lives 30 years after the abuse took place.
Johnson-Ferguson owned and ran Rua Fiola island, near Oban, as an outdoor centre for children between 1976 and 2013.
Solicitor Gary McAteer said his client was back in court “a changed man”.
He said: “He has lived a very useful life, he has impressed a considerable number of people.
“Without much of an effort at all some 30 or more character references arrived on my desk. These spoke of someone who was generous, patient, dedicated to what he did.
“He stands before the court a changed man. This whole process has had a very serious effect on him physically and mentally. Three or four days after the conviction he suffered a heart attack and was hospitalised.”
Sentencing, Sheriff Anderson told Johnson-Ferguson: “You have no previous convictions, you have led for the most part a stable, family-centred and worthwhile life.
“Over many years, many youngsters have benefited from time spent on your island, participating in activities that nurtured independence, initiative and a love of the natural world.
“Nevertheless the matters on which I must pass sentence today come out of that same past, resulting in your downfall by your lewd, libidinous, indecent practices and behaviour to each of these three young trusting young boys who were placed in your care in the 1980s.
“You committed in respect of each of them a gross breach of trust. You abused your position of power and authority.
“Your actions impacted on them physically and emotionally at the time. The repercussions continue to reverberate down the decades. One had simply to listen to their evidence in court to appreciate the fall-out from your actions continues to live with them.
“The physical act was one thing. The lost of trust in an adult, someone looked up to by each of them, is something quite separate.”
Johnson-Ferguson, of Solwaybank, Chapel Knowe, Canonbie, in Dumfries and Galloway, had denied sexually abusing the three boys.
One of the men broke down in tears as he described how the tutor put his hands inside his pants as he was helping him out of a peat bog at the bottom of a zip slide.
Another denied making up the allegations because he was “awestruck by an adventurer figure who owned an island”.
After the sentence was handed down yesterday, Johnson-Ferguson looked at his wife and family in the public benches and appeared to wave as he was led away by custody officers.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.
