September 2000

DISC JOCKEY Graham Turnbull has been jailed for four and a half years yesterday for luring vulnerable young girls into sordid sex games.

Turnbull, 33, plied two teenagers with drink before making them dress in PVC clothing and ordering them to carry out perverted “dares”.

He also indecently assaulted two 13-year-olds at a party.

Ex-wife Valerie, 34, got two years’ probation for her part in the drunken abuse after claiming Turnbull preyed on her too.

She divorced him after he was exposed.

Turnbull’s offences were described by Sheriff Andrew Bell as the worst he had dealt with. He added: “Any normal person would be horrified.”

Sheriff Bell sent him to the High Court in Edinburgh for sentencing because his own powers only allowed a three-year maximum term.

Judge Lord Mackay of Drumadoon yesterday ruled Turnbull should be supervised for three years after his release. Valerie Turnbull sat as far from him as possible in the dock.

The couple befriended a homeless 16-year-old, letting her drink at their home in Gorebridge, Midlothian.

She was dressed two or three times in PVC clothing and told she would be stripped and thrown out unless she picked from bits of paper with “dares” written on them.

A 15-year-old friend of the youngster also got caught up in the game involving sex acts and photography.

Turnbull, a part-time DJ, was caught after the 13-year-olds he attacked told parents and teachers.

He admitted assaulting them, indecent behaviour with the girl of 15 and shameless indecency with the 16-year-old.

Valerie Turnbull admitted the last charge. Her advocate Hugh Irwin said: “She told her father Turnbull made her do sexual things she wanted nothing to do with.

She was completely under his power.”

March 2015

Schoolgirl waitress sexually assault by boss – Jailed

A teenage waitress sexually assaulted by her boss has described him as a “disgusting” predator after he was jailed.

She said was terrified when Lokman Gunbat said he would pay her to lose her virginity to him while she was working at his Dalkeith cafe.

Gunbat was jailed for three years for a string of sexual assaults.

The girl was one of three under-age waitresses whom Gunbat preyed upon at ­Coffee Express, the cafe he ran at ­Eskdaill Court, Dalkeith.

The father-of-six inappropriately touched the teenagers over a year-long period – and his youngest victim was just 14 at the time.

Gunbat, who denied the allegations, was found guilty of four charges following a week-long trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. Sheriff Michael O’Grady told the 37-year-old this week that he had no option but to jail him to “offer protection” to his victims.

The Dalkeith High pupil had just turned 15 when she started working at the busy local cafe.She said: “When you’re 15, you’re buzzing to get a job. I was so excited about it. I started off on a Saturday and then he asked me to go in on a Friday as well. After I started going in on Fridays, that’s when stuff started happening.

“He said to me, ‘what happens in these four walls will stay in these four walls’.”

She said she kept quiet at first as she was intimidated by Gunbat and worried that no-one would take her complaints seriously.

“It started off with small things, he would touch my bum. But he would say, ‘I didn’t mean it’. He used to come up behind me and push himself against me. But I was scared. I ignored it,” she said.

The youngster finally broke her silence and went to police when Gunbat cornered her in the stockroom, covered her mouth and inappropriately touched her.

She said: “I started panicking. I honestly thought I wasn’t going to get out of there. I shouldn’t have to be scared for my life. He was stood in front of the door. He was threatening me. He asked if I was still a virgin, and he offered me money and kept putting the sum up.”

When Gunbat found out that she had reported him, she claims he said he had the “best lawyers in Edinburgh” and told her she was a “stupid little girl who wanted attention”.

The trial brought back traumatic memories for the girl, who gave evidence behind a screen to avoid having to see her attacker in person.

She said: “Every time they asked me a question and I gave a brief description they would make me go into other details.

“I didn’t want my dad hearing what happened to me, and the extent. My dad broke down. It was the part about my virginity and offering to pay me money.”

The girl, now 16, added: “I don’t know if he’s done that to other kids. I just want people to know what he’s like. Just because [Lokman] is a family man, it doesn’t mean he is a nice guy. I’m a private person. At first I thought I didn’t want anyone to know. But I have stopped feeling like it was my fault. I started having nightmares about him. They had eased off but once the court case was coming up, they started again. I’m glad that something has come of it.”

The jury took just an hour to return a guilty verdict for all four charges he faced following a five-day trial last month.

Gunbat was found guilty of sexually assaulting the girl on various occasions between August 9, 2013 and October 5, 2013 at Coffee Express by seizing hold of her body, pressing his body against her, making sexually inappropriate remarks to her and offering money in exchange for sex.

He was also convicted of sexually assaulting her by seizing hold of her, placing his hand over her mouth, putting his hands down her lower clothing, touching her, lunging towards her and attempting to kiss her on the face on October 5, 2013.

The jury also found Gunbat guilty of sexually assaulting another 15-year-old employee at Coffee Express on September 15, 2012, by repeatedly touching her on the bottom and thigh on top of her clothing, and making sexually inappropriate remarks to her.

And he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl at his premises by putting his arms around her and attempting to kiss her between December 1, 2012 and January 31, 2013.

On Tuesday, Sheriff Michael O’Grady sentenced Gunbat, of Newtongrange, to three years in prison and put him on the sex offenders’ register.

He told him: “There’s no doubt in my mind that the facts require to be reflected in a significant custodial sentence. That is required to punish you to mark the seriousness of this conduct and to offer what ­little protection the court can to young girls who might be preyed upon by the likes of you.”

The girl hopes that Gunbat’s imprisonment will give her some closure and help her move on with her life.

The budding personal trainer is focusing on her upcoming Higher exams and preparing for college interviews.

She said: “I’m relieved that he was sent to prison. When my dad texted me saying he’d got three years I was speechless. I started crying, I didn’t know how to react. Just thinking about it just takes me back to that room. I know that a lot of local people go into that cafe, the older generation. They all know him, thinking he was a charmer. I want them to read about this and for them to know he is disgusting. It will be hard to trust anybody for a while.”

She said Gunbat, originally from Turkey, had affected her confidence and relationships with family members.

She said: “I shut myself away from everyone, I shut myself away from my friends and didn’t speak to my dad.

“I know [Gunbat] would have done it again, but even then he pleaded not guilty. He was so smug and thought he was going to get away with it.

“I didn’t want to be reminded of back then, I changed the way my hair looked and everything. Not many of my friends knew, but once they found out, they have been there for me.” Father Billy said of Gunbat: “He’s a predator. My daughter has had to relive it, the other two girls have had to relive what they went through, and put up with being cross-examined. She just told the truth and gave her answers. It set all the emotions off. It brought it all back.

“I feel sorry for his wife and her kids. It’s not my daughter’s fault, she was assaulted. Even when the police were investigating him on a similar charge, he went on and did it again, employing girls and continuing to do it. He was just a sexual predator.”

It is understood that Coffee Express will be run by Gunbat’s business partner while he completes his jail sentence.

 

April 2015

Man found guilty of having indecent images of children fails in appeal but has extended sentence quashed

A man found guilty of exchanging sexually explicit mobile phone messages with a 13-year-old girl and having in his possession thousands of indecent images of children on his computers has failed in an appeal against conviction but successfully challenged the sentence imposed.

The Criminal Appeal Court heard that Craig McMurdo was sentenced in June 2014 to an extended sentence of 60 months – 30 months being the custodial element – after being convicted of four charges following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

The appellant was found guilty of:

(charge 1) causing the 13-year-old girl to participate in sexual activity by inducing her to send him explicit images and videos of her, contrary to section 31 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009;

(charge 2) causing the girl to look at naked images of himself, contrary to section 33 of that Act;

(charge 3) sending sexually explicit text messages to the girl, contrary to section 34(1) of the Act; and (charge 5) having in his possession indecent photographs of children, contrary to the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, section 52A(1).

The Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Carloway, sitting with Lord Menzies and Lady Dorrian, heard that searches of the appellant’s home address and place of work by the police resulted in the recovery of various computers, which were found to contain indecent images and videos of the complainer and thousands of downloaded indecent images and videos of other children.

The mobile phones of the appellant and the complainer revealed that they had sent each other sexually explicit messages, videos and texts throughout a period of about a year, but they never met.

The appellant gave evidence that he did not know, and could not reasonably have known, that there were indecent images of children (other than the complainer) contained on his devices. In that respect, he depended upon the statutory defence under section 52A(2)(b) of the 1982 Act.

The ground of appeal against conviction on charge 5, for which leave was granted, was that the sheriff did not adequately direct the jury on the burden of proof applicable to the defence under section 52A(2)(b) of the 1982 Act.

The contention for the appellant was that the sheriff had given inadequate directions because he did not tell the jury specifically that, once the statutory defence had been raised, it was for the Crown to negative that defence beyond reasonable doubt.

However, the judges refused the appeal after observing that the sheriff’s directions to the jury favoured the appellant.

Delivering the opinion of the court, the Lord Justice Clerk said: “Under section 52A of the Civil Government (Scotland) Act 1982, the prosecution must establish not simply that the appellant had images on his computers or devices, but that he knew of the existence, and had control, of the images themselves. That knowledge and control requires proof beyond reasonable doubt.

“It is a proportionate response, to the need to deter the proliferation of child pornography, not to require the prosecution to prove that the appellant had looked at the images (that being a matter peculiarly within his own knowledge) but to provide a defence, sustainable on the balance of probabilities that he had not done so. In these circumstances, the clear intention of Parliament, upon a plain reading of the provision, that a legal (reverse) onus is thus created, must be endorsed.

“It follows that the sheriff erred in failing to direct the jury that, once possession and control of the images were established beyond reasonable doubt, the onus transferred to the appellant to prove, on a balance of probability, that he had not accessed the images. The guidance in the Jury Manual to this effect is correct.

“The sheriff’s directions were in favour of the appellant since they effectively kept the onus on the Crown throughout to prove not only knowledge and control of the images, but also awareness of their content. The appeal against conviction on charge 5 must accordingly fail.”

Prior to the hearing, the appellant abandoned that part of his appeal which challenged the length of the custodial sentences as excessive, thus the only contention advanced was that the extended nature of the sentence on charge 1 was “unnecessary and inappropriate”.

The judges allowed the appeal against sentence to the extent that the extended element was quashed, after noting that the sheriff provided “very little specific justification” for imposing an extended sentence.

Lord Carloway said: “Although the criminal justice social work report reported that the appellant was unlikely to offend generally, it did state that he was at ‘low/moderate’ likelihood of sexual re-offending due to his age, limited offending history and the nature of the offence.

“It is of course for the sheriff to assess whether a convicted person poses a ‘serious harm’ risk. The content of a CJSWR is only one factor, albeit that it will normally be a significant one, in the sheriff’s consideration. However, in the absence of a reasonable clear justification from the sheriff, the selection of an extended sentence must be regarded as excessive.”

June 2014

49 year old Singer sent sex texts to girl, 13 – Jailed

A JAZZ singer who repeatedly ‘sexted’ a 13-year-old girl before he was caught with a large stash of child abuse images on his computer has been jailed for two and a half years.

Despicable former BBC and Smooth radio show host Craig McMurdo, 49, bombarded the schoolgirl with explicit text messages containing naked images of himself and other males performing sex acts on themselves.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how the pervert also forced his victim to send him photographs of herself performing a sex act.

McMurdo – who has sung for the likes of Prince Charles and Hollywood actor Paul Newman – was rumbled after the girl’s mother discovered what was going on.

The horrified woman contacted police who arrested the former BBC radio show host at his home in Midlothian.

Detectives then discovered that he was storing a number of sickening child abuse images on computers that he owned.

On Thursday, Sheriff Gordon Liddle sentenced McMurdo to 30 months in jail. He also ordered that he be supervised by the authorities for another 30 months following his release from custody.

Passing sentence Sheriff Liddle said that McMurdo posed potentially “serious” harm to public safety.

He added: “Nothing other than a custodial disposal is appropriate in this particular case.”

The story emerged following the conclusion of an eight day long trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month. Sentence had been deferred until Thursday for the court to obtain reports about McMurdo’s character.

McMurdo, of Gorebridge, Midlothian, had denied committing any crimes and had claimed he thought his young victim was a “very physically mature looking” woman of 19.

The court heard how McMurdo targeted the girl between December 2011 and August 2012.

He initially made contract with the teenager through a dating web site called R U interested.

McMurdo then started exchanging messages with her through Facebook and their mobile phones

The court heard how these messages contained photos displaying sex acts.

He also got the young woman to send him images of her naked.

However, the young woman’s mother discovered what was going on and she contacted police who arrested McMurdo.

They confiscated his computers and found that he had been downloading child porn.

During the case, McMurdo gave evidence in which he claimed he thought the girl was 19 because that was the age she had on her Facebook profile.

He told defence solicitor advocate John Keenan that he entered into a “sexting” relationship with the young woman.

He said: “It was very convenient. I was under a lot of stress at work.”

McMurdo told the court that if he had known she was 13, he wouldn’t have been in contact with her.

Saying that his actions weren’t the ones of a predatory sex offender, McMurdo added: “It’s suicidal. It’s madness. It’s just madness. It’s like putting a shotgun into your mouth.”

McMurdo also told the court that his career as a jazz singer was now in ruins as a consequence of being arrested by officers.

He added: “It has completely destroyed it.”

McMurdo also told the jury that a number of people had the ability to access the computer and that they could have downloaded the child porn.

However, a jury refused to accept his claims and decided that he was guilty of criminal behaviour.

On Thursday, defence solicitor advocate John Keenan told the court that his client had a problem with Internet pornography and had spent the 17 months receiving psychological help.

Mr Keenan urged Sheriff Liddle not to jail McMurdo saying that social workers thought that he was at low risk of re-offending.

Mr Keenan added: “He has lost his career – it was a career which he had for 30 years. He has lost his reputation – both personal and professional.

“His business has effectively collapsed and he has had to declare himself bankrupt.

“I would urge your lordship to consider a non custodial disposal.”

However, Sheriff Liddle said that he had to send McMurdo – who has also been placed on the Sex Offenders Register – to prison.

May 2014

Jazz star faces jail over cyber sex with schoolgirl, 13

A JAZZ singer who once performed for Prince Charles is facing a lengthy prison sentence after being convicted of repeatedly “sexting” a 13-year-old girl and possessing child abuse images.

Former BBC and Smooth radio show host Craig McMurdo, 49, bombarded the teenager with explicit text messages containing naked images of himself and other males performing sex acts on themselves.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard the pervert forced his victim to send him photographs of herself performing a sex act.

Singapore-born McMurdo, who also once entertained Hollywood legend Paul Newman, was caught after the victim’s mother discovered what was going on.

Police searched his Midlothian home and discovered a stash of child abuse images on computers that he owned.

Following an eight-day trial, McMurdo, of Gorebridge, was found guilty of four charges of child abuse and possession of child pornography.

McMurdo, who once had his own “big band”, had denied committing any crimes 

He also told a jury that he didn’t download the child abuse images and that somebody who had access to his computers must have been responsible.

Sheriff Gordon Liddle deferred sentence on McMurdo until next month so that the court can obtain reports about his character.

But he warned him to expect a prison sentence.

Sheriff Liddle added: “It is very likely and it is almost inevitable result of the verdict that this will result in a custodial order. You may very well want to spend your time between now and sentencing putting your affairs in order.”

The court heard that McMurdo targeted the girl between December 2011 and August 2012 after making contact with her through a dating website called R U Interested.

McMurdo then started exchanging messages with her through Facebook and their mobile phones, including photographs of sex acts.

He also got the girl to send him images of her naked and performing sex acts.

During the case, McMurdo gave evidence in which he claimed he thought the girl was 19

He told defence solicitor advocate John Keenan that he entered into a “sexting” relationship with the girl in which they indulged in “naughty schoolgirl” fantasies.

He said: “She was a very well developed girl, a very physically mature girl.

“It was a fantasy cyber encounter. It was sexting.”

McMurdo went on to insist that he would not have contacted the girl if he knew she was just 13.

He added: “It’s suicidal. It’s madness. It’s just madness. It’s like putting a shotgun into your mouth.”