Barlinnie prison officer jailed for sexually assaulting inmates
60-year-old Brian Johnstone - who spent 30 years as an officer - preyed on the men while they were in their cells.
A prison officer has been jailed bars for sexually assaulting two inmates at Barlinnie Prison.
60-year-old Brian Johnstone - who spent 30 years as an officer - preyed on the men during their time inside and repeatedly attacked them while they were in their cells.
The victims, 26, and 35, recalled how Johnstone would come into their cell, often before they were awake, and touch them inappropriately. Both men were also subjected to at least one assault in the shower by the pensioner.
Johnstone, from Greenock, Inverclyde denied the charges but was convicted of sexually assaulting his first victim between December 2013 and March 2014 and the second from March to August 2016.
Sheriff Joseph Platt jailed Johnstone for three years and put him on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
He told him: "You betrayed the trust of the prison service and your fellow employees”.
Glasgow Sheriff Court heard from the men and the string of incidents they described when Johnstone carried out sex attacks the years.
The younger of the two men and Johnstone’s first victim described an incident when Johnstone carried out a sex act on him while he lay in bed, ill with food poisoning.
In his speech to the jury fiscal depute Niall Macdonald asked them to consider: “Are they odd details to add if this, as suggested by Brian Johnstone is all made up?”
Jurors heard accounts of incidents when Johnstone attacked the man in the showers.
The victim, who has a lengthy criminal record, candidly told the court: “we know I’m a criminal”.
Mr McDonald said: “Conviction after conviction were put to him, prison misdemeanour after misdemeanour.
“A man who got into fights in prison, or disobeyed orders.
“And yet, can he not be sexually assaulted by a prison officer?”
The 35-year-old, was on remand at the time of the attacks and subsequently acquitted of the charge he faced.
He said he formed the opinion Johnstone was gay.
He described the first incident of sexual assault when Johnstone came into his cell and “lunged” and touched him between his legs, over his boxer shorts.
The man told the jury that Johnston would come into his cell, before he was awake and touch him.
He said “every time he came in he touched me”.
The court also heard of one incident when he was assaulted by Johnstone in the shower area.
Johnstone claimed to have vague memories of the men and denied any sexual contact.
Defence counsel John Scullion QC said Johnstone is a family man and has worked throughout his adult life.
Johnstone resigned from the prison service when he was convicted and still maintains his innocence.