Rodney Johnston – Norfolk

Rodney Johnston, 67, of Starston near Harleston, Norfolk

Article from: 09/01/2026

Rodney Johnston jailed for forcing woman into sex sessions

An obsessive pervert who forced a woman into having sex with up to 100 men against her will has been jailed for life.

Rodney Johnston, 67, coerced the woman into taking part in hundreds of sex sessions with multiple strangers over three decades while he took photographs and filmed the abuse.

His victim was threatened into “outings” to secluded ‘dogging sites’ including Thetford Forest and Whitlingham Lane, on the outskirts of Norwich, and pre-arranged hotel rooms where she was made to engage with men who had responded to adverts on sex sites.

Norwich Crown Court was told the woman had participated with “absolute reluctance” while facing “physical and psychological threats”.

Sentencing him to serve a minimum of 16 years, Judge Alice Robinson said Johnston, who worked as a carer, had pursued a “predatory lifestyle to further your perverted sexual desires”.

Forcing the woman to participate in orgies with men who were told there were “no limits” had been “rape in all but name”, she added.

She said his “compulsive and obsessive” preoccupation and “sense of entrenched sexual entitlement” continued over 30 years.

It had left a “devastating life-long psychological impact” on his victim outlined in a “harrowing” personal impact statement, she added.

Police have now launched a further investigation aimed at other men who participated in the abuse and who may also now face prosecution.

A spokesman said: “Our focus now shifts to establishing if any further offences have been committed and if so we will conduct a thorough investigation to identify those responsible and do everything possible to try to bring them to justice.”

Johnston, of Rushall Road, Starston, near Harleston, was found guilty of seven offences including procuring a woman to have sexual intercourse by threats or intimidation and causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

The jury of six men and six women were unable to reach a verdict on a charge of rape following an eight-week trial last year.

He was also found guilty of coercive and controlling behaviour after subjecting his victim to decades of “degradation and humiliation” between 1994 and 2024.

Stephen Rose KC, prosecuting, said his exploitation had included isolating her from friends and family, monitoring her movements using tracking devices and threatening her with disclosure of personal intimate details.

He forced her to wear sexually provocative clothing in public and collected a huge archive of pictures and videos that he posted online along with vile degrading comments about violent sexual abuse.

The court heard he made connections through adult social networks, sometimes sending out bulk text messages to advertise times and places where men could meet and have sex with the woman.

In many of the messages he gave men “the OK” to abuse her.

‘Most callous grooming’

Mr Rose said over the course of his offending she had been forced to have sex with a “very large number” of men.

The exact number may never be known but it could be as many as a thousand, the court heard.

The abuse continued even after the woman was diagnosed and treated for a life-threatening brain tumour.

Judge Robinson said he had subsequently undertaken the “most callous grooming” to force her back into posing naked and having sex against her will.

She said there had been no financial motive for his abuse and that he had instead been motivated “purely to satisfy your own sexual urges” to see the woman engaged with other men while he watched and filmed.

Throughout the trial, Johnston claimed the sexual encounters were consensual.

He argued that many of these messages were him living out “a fantasy” and bore no relation to what happened in real life, dismissing them as “banter”.

But in her statement his victim said Johnston “took her out” up to five nights a week to hotels or known dogging spots despite her insistence she did not want to go, and said she was “disgusted” afterwards.

Many of the encounters lasted several hours and involved up to 15 men.

He would threaten and punish her if he felt she was being uncooperative, she added.

Decades of abuse revealed by discovery of photos

Johnston eventually came to the attention of the police in July 2024 when explicit images were discovered by the woman’s children.

He was arrested after he tried to take the woman out of the country against her wishes but was talked into dropping her off at a police station.

Johnston was also found guilty of intimidation of a witness after repeatedly attempting to contact the woman after his arrest.

Christopher Paxton KC, mitigating, had argued the on-going dangerousness posed by Johnston meant a life sentence was “not justified”, urging the court to “step back and assess other aspects of his character” including his role as a paid carer.

But Judge Robinson said he had shown a “lack of insight and remorse” and would continue to pose a “significant risk” for the rest of his life.

He was told if ever released he would remain on licence for life as well as being on the sex offenders’ register.

He was also made subject to an indefinite restraining order.

Senior investigating officer Duncan Woodhams said: “Today’s sentence is the result of painstaking work due to the sheer volume of evidence involved, and of course the courage of the victim in telling us about what she has endured.

“We are grateful for her trust in us allowing us to present the full scale of Johnston’s prolonged, disturbing, and truly awful abuse.

“Whilst this sentence cannot undo what happened to her we hope she can now take those steps to build her life on her own terms.

“She has shown remarkable bravery.

“And to anyone else who is suffering abuse please come forward and know you will be listened to and supported.”

‘For the first time in decades I am free’
His victim, who has a legal right to lifelong anonymity, said she was now trying to rebuild her life, adding: “For the first time in decades I am free.”

Johnston, she said, had preyed on her weakness and vulnerability.

“I found myself in a situation I never imagined I would be in,” she said. “What I then went on to endure I would not wish on anybody.

“I had no voice, no choice”

She described Johnston as a monster for whom she was “nothing more than an object”.

“I felt dirty, sick, used, degraded, humiliated and terrified – but this became my norm.

“I no longer know who I am,” she said: “Now I must rebuild myself and I often feel lost and unsure where to begin.

“I feel anxious about the future, but for the first time in decades I am free.”

The woman’s family members said they were “endlessly proud” of her courage.