Locations
Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, LL41
Description
A serial paedophile from north Wales who preyed on and abused young boys over a 33-year period has been jailed for three years.
Robert Tecwyn Hughes, 53, of Blaenau Ffestiniog, appeared before Caernarfon Crown Court for sentence on Friday.
He had pleading guilty to two charges of committing and two of inciting acts of gross indecency.
Hughes asked for 15 similar offences involving boys and young men to be taken into consideration.
Prosecutor Tom Morgan Jones told the court the scale of the abuse emerged after Hughes' behaviour towards a teenager who visited his home.
'Terrified'
He said the boy had been "terrified" when Hughes produced a bottle of beer and switched on a pornographic video.
Hughes said he would tell the boy's mother he had been drinking and watching "blue" movies if the teenager told her what had gone on.
"The whole object is to ensure you have no contact with young children ever again" Judge Huw Daniel.
But the youngster confided in his best friend and the matter came to light.
Mr Morgan Jones said the boy's complaint "opened the floodgates" to further allegations by others who had been abused by Hughes.
"Each thought they were alone in that experience until they realised other complaints had been forthcoming."
Defence barrister Duncan Bould said Hughes had been a victim turned abuser.
Judge Huw Daniel told Hughes his crimes were "abhorrent."
'Suffering'
He said: "It was a deliberate act of grooming to see how far you could take something you knew was wrong."
The judge said he understood Hughes had been sexually abused when he was younger but told him: "That should have made you more determined not to inflict the same suffering on others."
Hughes must register as a sex offender for life and is banned from entering any home where children are present or from working with children.
The judge said: "The whole object of these directions is to ensure you have no contact with young children and don't have the temptation of doing anything to them ever again."
Outside the court, the mother of a child who originally reported Hughes to the police praised her son for coming forward.
She criticised the sentence as being too lenient: "He deserves more after what he's put everyone through."