Hundreds of men could be facing charges for sexual offences after a ‘predatory’ man who coerced a woman into having sex with strangers over three decades was jailed for 16 years, police have revealed.

Rodney Johnston, 67, forced the woman to take part in various sordid sex acts, sometimes lasting several hours and with up to 15 people at the same time and on several nights each week.

He arranged meetings in secluded countryside spots, as well as in hotels and in cars and would also photograph or film the abuse.

His victim, who faced ‘physical and psychological’ threats or punishments if she didn’t comply, said after the sentencing today: ‘For the first time in decades, I am free.’

Judge Alice Robinson, sitting at Norwich Crown Court, described the case as ‘harrowing’ and said the impact of the enforced orgies on the woman, who has automatic anonymity under the law, would be ‘severe and lifelong’.

‘Going out became a byword for her being raped by strangers. This is rape in all but name,’ the judge said.

Handing Johnston a life sentence with a minimum term of 16 years, she added she believed he would remain a threat to women for the rest of his life.

There was no financial motive for his ‘compulsive and obsessive’ abuse and it had been ‘a predatory lifestyle to further your perverted sexual desires’.

Rodney Johnston, 67, forced the woman to take part in various sordid sex acts, sometimes lasting several hours and with up to 15 people at the same time and on several nights each week

The pervert arranged meetings in secluded countryside spots, as well as in hotels and in cars and would also photograph or film the abuse

Speaking after the hearing, Detective Inspector Duncan Woodhams said: ‘Our focus will now shift to establishing if any further offences have been committed and, if so, we’ll conduct a thorough investigation to identify those responsible and do everything we can to bring them to justice.’

Johnston, of Startson in Norfolk, who worked as a carer, denied multiple offences between 1994 and 2024.

They included three counts of procuring a woman to have sexual intercourse by threats or intimidation, two charges of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and one count of intimidation of a witness.

Throughout his eight-week trial, which concluded in September, he denied all the charges and said the woman had consented to the meetings.

Johnston claimed liaisons he arranged through adult social networks or bulk text messages to make people aware of times and places of meetings were simply him living out a ‘fantasy’.

He told officers they were nothing more than ‘banter’.

But the investigation by Norfolk Police, who trawled through thousands of messages and images, revealed his victim regularly contacted a friend and described the abuse.