JUSTICE finally caught up with a retired IT schoolteacher on Thursday after he was found guilty of the historic sexual abuse of two boys including a pupil.
Michael Blackburn, 80, of Finch Hatton Close, Ruskington, Lincolnshire, had in the 1980s groped a boy in the classroom at a Gwynedd secondary school.
“You took advantage of his trust,” Judge Huw Rees told him at Caernarfon crown court.
He’d chased his second victim around a pig shed on a farm to fondle him.
Blackburn was jailed for a total of seven years and must register as a sex offender for life.
“You were determined to facilitate your deviant sexual interest in young boys,” the judge told him.
Prosecuting counsel Elen Owen said the school victim still wondered why he’d been “picked on” and relived the events.
The abuse had a “profound effect.”
The second victim had nightmares about what happened.
Blackburn’s counsel said he had been a local chairman of the educational group for older people the University of the Third Age.
He’d denied a catalogue of indecency offences.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here