Philip Boardman 47

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A MAN has been jailed for repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy over a four year period during the early 1990s.

Philip Boardman, of Winstanley Close in Hood Manor, committed the offences - which began when he was aged 14 - while living in the St Helens area.

The 45-year-old denied four counts of indecent assault, one of which was for multiple offending, but was found guilty following a trial and was appearing at Liverpool Crown Court for sentencing.

The court heard how Boardman repeatedly molested the boy and forced him to touch him indecently.

The court heard that two of the counts would now be classed as rape. They related to two specific instances of the oral rape of the child.

Geoffrey Lowe, prosecuting, read a victim impact statement from the boy now aged in his late 30s in which he described suffering from insomnia, anxiety and depression.

My depression causes me to have no interest in activities and I lack any motivation to do anything on most days," he wrote.

"My depression makes me feel hopeless and empty and angry a lot of the time. I also have terrible self image and have no self importance.

What happened in my youth destroyed my mental health and my mental health has been a constant obstacle to everything else in my life.

"I have no happy time to get back to. I have no future to focus on. I have never been unafraid or felt safe. Ive never been happy. I have never had a good opinion of the world or the people in it. I trust no one and never relax or let my guard down. That's what it did to me."

The court heard that Boardman, a father of two, had no previous convictions.

Passing sentence, Judge David Swinnerton, said: "You have a good work history as a healthcare assistant in hospitals, an ambulance technician and more recently for a medical company transporting confidential items including specimens.

"Your wife describes you as a caring, fun loving and devoted dad and a very caring husband. Your parents-in-law speak highly of you.

"But that happy and productive adult life hid a dark secret."

Judge Swinnerton explained that at the time of Boardman's offences, in 1994, the maximum sentence as a 17-year-old, he could have received would have been 12 months detention.

The judge said that the culpability of the repeated abuse and the severe psychological harm inflicted would not be adequately reflected by a sentence limited to 12 months.

"I agree that the passage of time does not imbue a defendant with any greater culpability or moral responsibility than he had at the time of the offence, but our understanding of harm and culpability in sexual offences has changed since 1994.

"In my judgement, this is one of those cases where it is appropriate to go beyond the maximum that could have been imposed when you were 17 and in the interests of justice to do so."

He added: "You have not accepted that you have done anything wrong and have shown no remorse."

Judge Swinnerton said if Boardman was an adult committing the offences now, then he would have jailed him for around 16 years.

He sentenced a tearful Boardman to four years in prison and added that he would have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.