Paedophile from Grantham abused boy in bushes after football, court hears

Warning: This story contains content some might find upsetting.

A paedophile who abused a young boy in Arlesey, Bedfordshire, after playing football with him was jailed for a total of 14 years yesterday (Tuesday).

Steven Smith, now 48, was aged 15 when he began indecently assaulting the boy, who was aged just 8 at the time.

Prosecutor Jacinta Stringer said if the boy scored a goal Smith would say: “That is five minutes.”

He would take him into bushes where he would assault him. The abuse continued after Smith had moved to Grantham.

In October, Smith, of First Avenue, Grantham, was convicted of seven counts of indecently assaulting the boy in the 1990s. He was also convicted of three other indecent assaults on female victims.

In the mid-1990s he touched a woman indecently when she stayed on a sofa at his address. Later, after a rave, he put his hand down the trousers of a teenager as they travelled in a car back from a rave.

When questioned by the police he denied all the allegations.

Yesterday, at St Albans Crown Court, Recorder Patrick Fields jailed him and said he must register as a sex offender for life. He is also banned from ever working with children or adults.