Sentence hitch for sex shame takeaway boss

Ajay Varma ran Smokey Jay’s, an American-style burger joint in Laburnum Road, Viewpark.

He was due to be sentenced at Hamilton Sheriff Court today for having unlawful sex with a teenage girl then stalking and threatening her.

However, Sheriff Daniel Kelly was told social workers hadn’t been given enough time to carry out a risk assessment on Varma, so sentence was deferred for another three weeks.

Varma (43), of Robslee Road, Glasgow, has been in custody since last month when he admitted having sex with the girl at the takeaway and elsewhere on various occasions between June 2015 and May last year. The girl was aged 14 and 15 at the time.

He also admitted taking indecent pictures of the girl and sharing these, and causing her fear or alarm by stalking her in May and June last year.

The court heard Varma phoned the girl, sent her text messages and “tracked her location”. He humiliated her by posting sexual images of her on the internet and sending them to her relatives and friends.

He kept watch on her, followed her and shouted abuse and threats. He watched the girl and her friends in a park and even followed the girl and her gran on a bus to Bellshill.

Varma also created a fake Facebook account in the victim’s name and posted messages on it.