Violent paedo stalker 'obsessed with film Taxi Driver and will be even MORE dangerous when he leaves prison'
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A child sex beast is likely become even more of a danger because of his bizarre obsession with the film Taxi Driver, a friend has warned.
Paul Dempster is in custody awaiting sentence after sexually assaulting a young girl and stalking two women who rejected him.
Speaking to the Daily Record, a friend has now revealed the 49-year-old has an obsession with the violent anti-hero from the film Taxi Driver played by Robert De Niro.
He even sports the same Mohican haircut as the character.
(Photo: Getty)
And the pal, who has known Dempster for 30 years, fears his crimes will escalate when when he walks free from prison.
He believes the crimes for which the pervert was convicted are “probably just the start of his offending”.
The friend revealed that since his teenage years, Dempster, 49, has modelled himself on Taxi Driver's gun-obsessed loner Travis Bickle.
And he added: “It has taken him 49 years to get on the radar.
"What happens next? He is a danger.”
(Photo: Getty)
(Photo: Getty)
At Glasgow Sheriff Court last month, Dempster was found guilty of sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl in 2013.
The court heard that he told the girl he loved her in private Facebook messages and was caught kissing her.
Dempster – a friend of the child’s family – preyed on her when he visited their house in the north of Glasgow.
He denied the assault charge and claimed he treated her like a family member, but was convicted by a jury at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
(Photo: Internet Unknown)
(Photo: Internet Unknown)
Before going on trial for the child sex offence, he pled guilty to a string of charges.
They included stalking a 20-year-old former colleague who rejected him and vandalising the shop of another woman who spurned his advances.
Child sex "beast" jailed for three years for attacks on girls aged seven and eight
He also admitted vandalising the girl’s dad’s car on two occasions in May 2013, driving without insurance or an MOT and breaching bail.
Yesterday, the friend – who asked not to be named – said: “Growing up, he had a dark side to him and had a fixation on Robert de Niro’s part in Taxi Driver.
“Paul was constantly quoting lines from it, such as, ‘You talkin’ to me?’ Things like that.
“It is hard to describe. He was a good guy growing up but he was different from everyone else.
“His demons have obviously overcome him.”
He added: “There are so many parallels with Paul’s character and the character in that film. It is scary.
“You just have to look at the two characters.
“They both have sleep deprivation and insomnia, the shaving the head into a mohican.
“You have a correlation between Paul and Travis fixating on the young girl. I’ve been thinking about why he went to trial. Has he convinced himself or is he in complete denial?
“He has exhibited certain mannerisms that are prevalent in that film.
“All I’m saying is you can’t rule anything out, given he has had his first taste of the jail for five or six months.
“I think he’ll walk in January, I really do. The tariff they can put on him is tightly governed.
“You’re talking under two years of a sentence, given what he’s been convicted of. You can only hope that they put some kind of restriction on him.”
In the 1976 film, Bickle stalks a former colleague, becomes obsessed by a child prostitute played by
Jodie Foster and tries to assassinate a US senator.
The film culminates with Bickle shaving his hair into a mohican before murdering three men in a shootout.
Last year, Dempster was arrested in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, for stealing six dollars worth of items from a Salvation Army store.
In his mugshot, he sported the same mohican-style haircut as Bickle.
His friend said: “He has a mental health issue.
Child sex beast and woman-beater claims he is the "victim" and will "seek revenge" in pathetic prison letters
“I’m sure that’s what his lawyers will be arguing. He is definitely a fantasist. There are no two ways about it.
“Unless they put some mental health restriction on him, he will be out.
“Any psychologist who looks into a 48-year-old guy who exhibits the complex attributes that he has, you would think there is potentially more to this.
“In his life, he has either been very clever and subtle about his crimes or he is now embarking on a path.”
In court, the jury were told Dempster gushed over social media that he missed the schoolgirl and repeatedly asked the child to phone him.
He called the child “babycakes” and was caught kissing her on the lips on a number of occasions in 2013.
The court also heard that the police were called when a former colleague of Dempster’s at the Nicholson Centre in Muirhead, Lanarkshire, turned up to work on May 29, 2013.
She noticed excrement and paint over the door and window then saw Dempster in his car.
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The court heard Dempster used to work at the leisure centre and had made this woman “the subject of romantic attention”.
The other charge of harassing a woman related to 20-year-old Emma Phelan, with whom Dempster worked in the Auchengeich Miners Welfare Club in Moodiesburn, Lanarkshire.
He made advances towards her and she rejected them.
But in July 2013, Dempster sent Emma a letter declaring his love for her.
In it, he told her that he “dreamt about her and thought about her before he went to bed at night”.
Despite the police telling him to leaver her alone, Dempster drove past her house days later.
During their investigations into this, police found Dempster had no insurance or MOT certificate.
Sentence was deferred on Dempster for further reports and he was remanded in custody.