Boy's sex attacker in court 30 years on
A sex attacker has avoided jail for offences he committed more than 30 years ago after a judge said he must 'treat him like the child he was' rather than the adult he is now.
Andrew Taylor, aged 50, from Wombourne, carried out sexual assaults on the boy in 1981, a court was told.
Taylor, who appeared at Staffordshire Crown Court and pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault on a male and two counts of buggery, was given a three year community order and a probation programme but avoided jail.
The court heard how Taylor, who was 15 at the time, repeatedly touched the younger boy and also assaulted him while the pair were on a narrow-boat holiday. It was heard Taylor was a speedway racer at the time and had introduced the young boy to a man he said was 'world champion'.
Prosecuting Jane Sarginson said: "The defendant took advantage of a younger boy who had looked up to him to some degree because of his speedway activities. The offences occurred during sleepovers the pair would have and also on a holiday they were on together.
"The effect this has had on the victim was, and continues to be, huge.
He would self medicate with drink and at one point tried to kill himself.
"All of this combined resulted in him losing his family and his house.
"He now has therapy up to six times a week."
Defence solicitor Nigel Stelling said that the judge should look at Taylor as 'the 15 year old boy he was' when sentencing him.
Taylor has since gained a criminal record for possessing sexual images of children.
He said: "This man stands before you aged 50 but you have to deal with him as if he is the 15 year old boy he was."
Sentencing Taylor, judge Mark Eades said: "What you did was serious in the 1980s and it is even more so now.
"We have all heard the effect this has had on the victim, however I cannot send you to prison as an adult for something you did as a child."
