September 2023

Victims praised for coming forward as sex offender is jailed for 24 years

A Colchester man has been jailed after sexually abusing young boys nationwide since the late 1980s.

Phillip Johnson, 65, was sentenced on Wednesday (August 30) after he was convicted on 21 charges relating to sexually abusing and making indecent images of children.

Johnson started his abuse campaign in late 1980 when he sexually assaulted two boys aged between six and eight at the time in Kent.

The abuse continued for two years on multiple occasions before it stopped in the late 1980s, the victims disclosed, when he left for a substantial amount of time.

However, it resumed when they were 15 to 16 years old. Johnson relocated to the Humberside area around 2008, where he sexually assaulted a teenage child after befriending and grooming him.

The victim struggled with the incident and did not tell anyone for a decade before disclosing it to the police. The sex offender moved to Colchester where he groomed and sexually assaulted two males, with one keeping it a secret for a year before the second boy encouraged him to come forward.

Subsequently, Johnson was arrested in August 2018 when the investigation started to look into his sex crimes spanning over 30-years.

Johnson denied any wrongdoings when interviewed but approximately 2000 indecent images of children were found during police investigations.

Some include a number of the most serious Category A images of serious child sexual abuse. After he was charged with 21 counts relating to sexual abuse and making indecent images of children, Johnson denied 13 counts of sexual assault against children, including attempted buggery, and a further 8 counts of making indecent images of children.

However, he was convicted of all counts in July at Chelmsford Crown Court.

The judge considered him to be a dangerous offender and jailed him for 24 years with a minimum of 15 years to be served before parole can be considered.

He will be subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will remain on the sex offenders’ register for life

Specialist officers praised the courage of the five men for coming forward to seek justice against the sexual offender who abused them as children.