Glasgow pervert John Mair tried to use cash to compensate victims and avoid jail sentence

John Mair, 74, had been living a champagne lifestyle at the opulent Hacidenda Riquelme golf resort in Sucina when he was detained on a European arrest warrant.

He spent three months in a Spanish prison before being extradited to face a catalogue of horrific historic sexual abuse charges.

One of his victims has spoken exclusively to the Glasgow Times and told how her life had been turned into a ‘living nightmare’ by the monster, who tormented her for decades.

The 39-year-old, whose identity we are protecting, said: “What he did to me will stay with me for the rest of my life.

“It’s changed my relationships and ability to trust men. What I went through has devastated my life in so many ways and I realise now he was grooming me for years.

“When he touched me in a sexual way, he would say ‘you are my favourite’ and I genuinely believed I was.

"He had such a hold over me and I’m just glad he finally admitted his guilt.  

“He’s a creepy old man and it took a long time to find the courage to report him to the police. He’s never shown an ounce of remorse for what he did. It’s taken a long time but justice has finally caught up with him."

John Mair image by Vic Rodrick

The woman also revealed how she was determined to face Mair in court.

She added: "I went to see him being sentenced and I looked him straight in the eye as he was being handcuffed and led away. He has to spend 26 months in prison but I've been given a life sentence."

Another of Mair’s victims revealed how he prayed on her and then moved to another young girl. 

The woman, now 64, said: “At the end of the day justice was done.

“All of his victims have had their whole lives ruined by broken relationships and broken marriages.

“It was good to see him in handcuffs but that doesn’t make the pain go away.”

The sex offender, originally from Barlarnark, pleaded guilty to three counts of abusing young girls at addresses in Glasgow and Livingston in West Lothian, between June 1981 and September 1995, when he appeared at Livingston Sheriff Court last month.

John Mair's luxury golf resort home

He was ordered to surrender his passport and stay in the UK while background reports were prepared by social workers.

In a sickening final insult to his victims, the wealthy pervert tried to use his cash to avoid a prison sentence, offering to pay them compensation in exchange for his liberty. Sheriff Jane Farquharson rejected his offer.

Jailing him for 26 months, she told him: “You have enjoyed a very lucrative lifestyle living abroad in a golf resort, but you are a paedophile, and you were a danger to people.”

Mair’s offending remained a secret until 2013 when one of his victims told a relative what he had done.

Her cousin then confessed that he had sexually abused her as well and, after the #MeToo hashtag went global in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, another of his victims went to the police in 2013.

John Mair's luxury golf resort home

The 64-year-old woman, who also attended court to see her tormenter locked up, said she was just 10 years old when Mair first came into her bedroom wearing a short dressing gown and carrying a bottle of alcohol before making a string of lewd remarks.

He asked her whether she had a boyfriend or had kissed anybody. He then asked her if she’d ever seen a boy’s private parts and whether she’d like to see what they looked like.

Senior depute fiscal Alan Wickham told the court that on another occasion the girl was in the back of a car when she was inappropriately touched by Mair.

He said the same girl was aged 14 or 15 when Mair attended a Boxing Day gathering held by her family.

She took a guest’s coat upstairs and saw Mair sitting on a bed. He lured her over and again touched her inappropriately

She said: “I froze, I knew what he was doing but didn’t know what to do.”

Her ordeal only ended when Mair heard someone coming upstairs, jumped off the bed and walked out of the room.

The court heard how his second victim was just 12 when she was targeted on a sofa by evil Mair in the living room of a mutual friend's house.

Mair, who was wearing only underpants, started kissing her on the neck and touching her.

He then put his hand up under her nightie and rubbed her back and buttocks while continuing to kiss her.

Mr Wickham said: “He told her that he loved her and she could hear his heavy breathing. 

"She struggled with what was happening. She’d never been kissed before and was thinking that this was not right.

“She got up and went to the toilet, locked the door behind her, sat against it and stayed in there all night.”

Iain Smith, defending, said Mair blamed his offending behaviour on too much alcohol and bitterly regretted what he had done.

In addition to the 26-month prison sentence, Mair will remain on the sex offender’s register for the next 10 years.