Victim of child abuser 'cannot look in mirror'

One victim described Derek Johnson as a "monster"

A teenage girl says she can no longer look at herself in the mirror after being groomed online then molested by a man in his 50s.

She was one of three victims of Derek Johnson, who was jailed for 15 years at Gloucestershire Crown Court on Monday after admitting a campaign of sexual abuse against three young girls between 2020 and 2023.

Johnson filmed the abuse and threatened to share the footage if they stopped complying with his demands.

One told the court she had tried to take her own life multiple times, adding: "I cannot look at myself in a mirror as I can see every single scar this monster gave me, physically and mentally."

The investigation by Gloucestershire Police began in November 2024 after a 17-year-old victim came forward.

She revealed Johnson had first contacted her on micro-blogging website Tumblr when she was just 14.

After grooming her online, he travelled to Gloucestershire to meet her in person and took her to a hotel where he subjected her to a prolonged assault.

Johnson abused her for two years, even moving to the county to be closer to her.

Johnson admitted 16 sex offences relating to children aged between 13 and 16

He was tracked down and arrested at his home address in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, in February this year and numerous electronic devices were seized.

They revealed folders titled with different female names which included child sexual abuse videos, including 42 category A videos of second victim and six category A videos of a third.

Johnson had even logged details of his offending in a calendar app.

Police traced one of the girls to Cornwall. She had been just 13 when Johnson began grooming her.

The court heard that when they met, he took her phone off her before driving her to a secluded woodland area on Dartmoor and raping her in a tent.

She tried to end contact with Johnson afterwards, but he threatened to show her family what had happened if she did so.

A third victim, from West Yorkshire, told police Johnson had sexually abused her when she was 14.

During Monday's hearing, one victim said: "I feel hatred towards Derek now that I have had time to process everything."

Fled to Ireland

She added: "I was only a child and he took advantage of that. I did not deserve to go through what happened to me and was groomed into exactly what and who he wanted me to be."

Another said: "I felt like I couldn't tell anyone what was happening, as I was worried that he would kill me. Even after contact ended with him, I felt like he was there."

After his initial arrest, Johnson was granted police bail and fled to the Republic of Ireland.

Irish police tracked him down in County Galway and he was extradited back to the UK in June 2025.

In September he admitted 14 counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity with a child between 2020 and 2023.

Johnson wrote a letter to Judge Rupert Lowe expressing remorse but the judge said he found the letter to be "rather glib", adding: "I am not convinced you have fully appreciated the depth of the depravity to which you have fallen."

'Inflicting deep damage'

Judge Lowe added: "These are in my view the very worst examples imaginable of offences of this sort against children of that age.

"You were a fully mature man of advancing years who knew you were inflicting deep damage on already vulnerable girls and who you persisted in damaging again and again and again to satisfy your perverted impulses."

Johnson was told he must serve at least 10 years of his 15-year jail term in custody, instead of the usual half.

He must also serve an extra five years on his licence period, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order, and given a restraining order.

The police investigation revealed Johnson had been in contact with other girls who have yet to be identified.