Colin Eamens 67

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A "depraved" sex offender lured young boys to his home with the promise of sweets and fizzy before "taking away their innocence". Colin Eamens, 66, of Nelson Street in Shotton, Flintshire's carried out a campaign of abuse that spanned five decades. while posing a respectable member of the community.

Eamens, 66, admitted to 17 counts of sexual abusing six underage teenage boys from the late 1970s and into the 2010s. He was sentenced to 17 years at Mold Crown Court on Friday.

Prosecutor, Brian Treadwell said Eamens would have children "drop in" and he would often provide them with cigarettes and alcohol, as well as sweets and fizzy drinks. The prosecutor said Eamens would "seek out items" such as computer game consoles and a Sodastream machine to "attract" children to hang out at his home.

Eamens targeted the boys from when he was in his early 20s through his mid-fifties.

He befriended the victims and their parents and had been regarded as a "family friend". Some of the children he would go on to abuse would, on occasions, spend the night at his home.

One victim said Eamens performed a sexual act upon himself in front of the boy which became "something of a habit". This progressed on to the boy having sexual acts performed upon him "on at least 30 occasions", the court was told.

Eamens later raped him one Christmas Day in the 1980s when he was just 15 years old. The abuse carried on for a further two years.

Mr Treadwell said Eamens sexually abused a further five boys over 30 years. He performed sexual acts either in front of or upon the children and on some occasions offered them "cash for sexual favours", the court heard.

Duncan Bould, defending, said Eamens was "very open" when confessing to his actions and is aware that a "significant" prison term awaited him.

Judge Rhys Rowlands jailed Eamens for a total of 17 years for his "disturbing" offences. He praised their "courage" in coming forward.

He said: "It is plain that as a younger man you were prone to behaving in a thoroughly depraved fashion, targeting and subjecting young teenage boys to various forms of sexual abuse. There are six victims, each of whom were young when they were abused by you.

"They had to live with what you did to them while you moved on living your life as though nothing had happened, moving from one victim to another. As youngsters they shouldn't have had a care in the world, but instead you were taking away their innocence and in some respects their childhood."

Speaking after the sentencing, DI Iolo Edwards, said: This has been a protracted and extensive investigation of Eamens activities and we welcome todays sentence. We hope that this sentence brings some closure for the victims who have supported our investigation from its outset."

DI Edwards went on to say that any person affected by sexual violence can seek support anonymously from the North Wales Sexual Assault Referral Centre. They can be reached by calling 0808 1563658.