Moment East Lothian antiques dealer is brought to justice as police swoop on home

This is the moment the law finally caught up with a paedophile East Lothian antiques dealer - 6,000 miles away in Thailand.

Sweating profusely, depraved John Martin rests hands on knees as he leans against the boot of a car, Thai police officers standing nearby. Martin was led away by officers and subsequently extradited to face trial on historic child sex offences carried out at an East Lothian mansion.

On Friday at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, he was jailed for more than three years for his heinous crimes. Martin sexually abused one victim and took photos of her when she visited his former home near Haddington on occasions between 1986 and 1990.

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Martin, 74, also targeted a second youngster at addresses in Perth and St Andrews in the 1990s. Martin was arrested and jailed in Thailand after the historic allegations were made in September last year. He was then extradited to Scotland to face trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.

Both victims, now adults, bravely gave evidence to the jury stating they had been sexually assaulted by Martin while they visited his former homes in Haddington, Perth and St Andrews.

Martin denied any wrongdoing but was found guilty by the jury who returned majority guilty verdicts to charges of him using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices towards both victims.

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The pensioner was remanded in custody and returned to the dock for sentencing on Friday where Sheriff Alastair Noble said his offending has had “a lifelong effect” on both victims.

Sherif Noble said: “You have been convicted by a jury of serious offences. The two victim impact statements provided to me demonstrate your offending has had a lifelong effect on both of them.

“It is plain that only custody can be imposed in respect of these matters. You continue to deny these matters and have shown no remorse.”

Martin was jailed for a total of 39 months and was placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.

The sheriff also imposed non-harassment orders prohibiting Martin from having any contact with the two victims for 20 years.

The court was told Martin had been arrested in Thailand in September last year on an International Extradition Warrant and has spent the last 14 months in custody.

His family in Thailand are said to “remain supportive” and that Martin plans to return to the country when he is released.

The court also heard Martin has suffered two bouts of cancer and is “extremely apprehensive he will die within the prison system here in Scotland”.

The trial heard Martin, who owned an antiques business in the capital’s Grassmarket area, had left Scotland and moved to Thailand around 2010 and married a local woman and the pair had a child together.

The jury found he abused the first victim in Haddington, East Lothian, between August 1986 and August 1990. Martin was also found guilty of assaulting the second victim on various occasions between December 1990 and February 1996.

A not proven verdict was returned by the jury to Martin using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices towards a third child at his former home in Haddington between April 1978 and April 1985.