A Scout leader who plied teenage boys with alcohol and abused them on camping trips for years is behind bars.
John Somerville incited a 14-year-old to touch his penis for a “dare” during a sick camping game and performed sex acts with him.
In his Fife home, Somerville made a 13-year-old boy do naked press-ups as punishment and indecently assaulted another 14-year-old.
The offending took place between June 1996 and February 1999.
Somerville, 57, pled guilty to indecently assaulting two 14-year-old boys and using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices towards a 13-year-old.
It is the second time he has been convicted after abusing Scouts.
Sick naked games
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard he regularly fondled and performed sex acts on one of the boys on camping trips and in Somerville’s vehicle.
Procurator fiscal depute Laura McManus said on one camping trip in Scotland he supplied Scouts with alcohol and instigated a game which resulted in a forfeit or dare.
Ms McManus said it involved the group kissing each other or running around naked.
She said: “During the game all members of the group were dared to place their hand on the person next to them and touch their penis.
“The accused placed his hand on the penis of the person sitting next to him.”
She said Somerville was dared to lift the boy while naked and he picked him up in a “fireman style lift” and walked around with him on his shoulder.
The boy was intoxicated at the time but recalls waking, still naked, in an open sleeping bag and Somerville lying naked next to him.
Boy went ‘off the rails’
Ms McManus said in another instance, Somerville punished the boy by making him stand naked for 20 seconds.
On another camping trip, the boy tried to tell Somerville he was “going off the rails” due to the abuse but Somerville’s response was to perform a sex act on him and tell him it was obvious he enjoyed it.
The court heard a 13-year-old boy was given alcohol on a camping trip and recalled playing games which involved some of the scouts ending up naked.
On another trip he remembers older Scouts being given alcohol and a “dice game” which involved them walking round a camp fire with trousers at their ankles and kissing others on the mouth and body.
On one occasion Somerville licked the boy’s genital area and induced him to reciprocate.
The fiscal said the boy was given the punishment of performing naked press-ups in front of Somerville at his home.
Somerville indecently assaulted another 14-year-old boy by inducing him to stand and pull his lower clothing down to expose his penis and licked the boy’s naked genital area.
The court heard the boy wet himself and left Somerville’s home feeling ashamed.
Prison for ‘disgraceful charges’
Sheriff Grant McCulloch told Somerville, of Greenwell Park, Glenrothes, they were three “disgraceful charges”.
The sheriff added: “There’s nothing I need to say at the present time, other than a custodial sentence is highly likely”.
The sheriff remanded Somerville in custody and deferred sentence until April 5 for the production of background reports.
Somerville was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for five years in the meantime but told the final period will be determined at sentencing.
Later offences
Defence lawyer Aime Allan revealed her client has a previous conviction from 2006.
A High Court judgement, publicly available online, shows Somerville failed in an appeal against this conviction.
The document states he was found guilty by majority of two charges involving two young boys in the early 2000s.
It involved using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices by offering them money to play sexually intimate games.
One of the offences took place at a Scout camp in the USA.
Somerville was sentenced to 300 hours of community service for the crimes.
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