Express & Star

Pervert jailed for assaulting child in pushchair at Willenhall market

A former child carer who forced a young child's hand against his genitals while he sat in a pushchair at Willenhall market has been jailed for four years.

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Patrick Marston, of Rose Hill Gardens, in the town targeted the victim at around 9am on June 24 last year.

The 59-year-old fled the scene when he saw a member of the public had noticed him, but the child's mother gave chase and took a picture of him using a mobile phone.

Within half-an-hour police arrested him discovering his trouser zip was still undone, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday.

A police raid carried out later at his home revealed the true extent of Marston's twisted fantasies.

Officers discovered soiled nappies he had collected from the street, a dictaphone with a recording of a baby crying on it and 17 indecent images of children.

During police interviews Marston laid bare the true extent of his sexual desires, which included a fantasy to abduct and sexually assault a child.

He admitted a charge of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, telling police 'he needed help', the court heard.

Passing a sentence of four years imprisonment and a further three years on licence, Judge James Burbidge QC described the case as one of the most 'sad', 'worrying' and 'difficult' the court had faced.

Psychiatric and psychological reports revealed Marston had a 'troubled' and 'horrid' childhood, which the judge conceded may have ultimately led to his fantasies and offending.

Judge Burbidge said: "You had kept the lid on the problems you had but unfortunately in June of last year the lid was well and truly off.

"I can't be satisfied your mere presence in court has put the lid back on because you acted in broad daylight without any inhibition towards a child right in front of the mother.

"Because of the other factors the police found, what you had in your home, in my judgement you had lost all inhibitions at that stage. The risk of re-offending is high."

A statement from the child's mother read out in court said: "The incident made me feel disgusting."

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