A transgender butcher has admitted to the abduction and sexual assault of a primary school child as she walked home from school in the Scottish Borders in February.
Andrew Miller – who is also known as Amy George – pleaded guilty to four charges on Thursday 18 May as he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh via videolink, remaining “impassive” throughout the hearing as the circumstances surrounding the abduction were relayed to the court.
The court was told that Miller identifies as transgender and is in the process of transitioning to become a woman. While he was presenting himself as Amy George at the time of his arrest, he confirmed he wanted to be addressed as Andrew Miller using “he” pronouns for simplicity.
The 53-year-old admitted to luring the female child into his car while dressed as a woman offering her a lift home before repeatedly assaulting her. He did not know his victim before he abducted her.
The child told police that she had not been able to get a bus home, and that the battery on her mobile phone had died. She had been walking home when she was approached by who she described as a lady in a car who said her name was Amy George. The child said the person did not appear to be threatening, so she accepted a lift.
The High Court heard today how Miller instead drove the child to his own house and took her into a bedroom, where he subjected the girl to a 27-hour-long sexual assault ordeal. He refused to let her leave, and the girl told the court that she complied with his demands because she didn’t want to “make him mad”.
Miller refused to let the child leave. When she repeatedly asked him to let her go home, Miller replied at one point that he would let her go after a week – while, at another point, said he wasn’t going to let her go because “she was his new family”.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the girl was only allowed to escape from the bedroom after Miller fell asleep beside her on the second night of the terrifying ordeal.
The child found Miller’s landline, dialled 999, and the police came within minutes. Miller, a father of three, who lived alone, was still asleep when the police arrived.
The court was told that the child’s “fear and distress was palpable” in the call and her relief at hearing the police arrive at the house was obvious, the BBC reports.
It is believed that Mr Miller owned a butcher shop in Melrose which had been shut for a number of months before the abduction. Local media reports that Miller also watched pornography and fetish videos on television – with the child describing how she had seen “weird” things.
The court heard that it was only because of “complete fortune” that the girl was able to escape from the house once Miller fell asleep. The court heard how she deliberately knocked a glass off a table and then turned on a light to see if her attacker would wake up.
When they arrived, police officers found Miller still sleeping and wearing a bra, silicone breasts, female pants and tights.
The girl was taken to a nearby hospital to be medically examined.
Judge Lord Arthurson told Miller that he had admitted “abhorrent crimes” of the utmost “deviance and depravity” and which were “the realisation of every parent’s worst nightmare”.
Miller claimed that he was being “motherly” to the child when questioned by police. The butcher said he had stopped to “help” the primary school pupil as she “looked freezing” – saying giving her a lift was a “motherly thing” and that he had been a Good Samaritan, having “put her in bed with me to warm up”.
He pleaded guilty to all charges at the High Court in Edinburgh via videolink and did not appear in person. The offences included abduction, sexual assault, possession of 242 indecent images of children and intentionally causing a child under the age of 13 to look at a sexual image, the BBC reports.
Detective Chief Inspector Bryan Burns said the victim and her family had shown “incredible courage and strength throughout this ordeal”.
He said: “This was a significant investigation and I would like to thank all those involved for their professionalism and commitment during what was an extremely challenging inquiry.
“Andrew Miller has pled guilty to serious offending and will now face the consequences of his actions”.
Miller will be sentenced at a later date, and the court is considering the imposition of an order for lifelong restriction, which would see Miller held in prison for a set period and only released if the parole board believed it was safe to do so.
Loading ...