Justice for South Yorkshire school boy sexually abused and blackmailed by '˜dangerous' sex offender Â

After a nine-year wait, the schoolboy Kieron Young, 27, sexually abused was finally given justice this afternoon, when he watched on in court as Young was sentenced for his shocking crimes. 

Judge Roger Thomas QC was told how the abuse survivor was finally able to summon the courage to speak out about Young's offending, after reading press reports about Judge Thomas jailing Young for 10 years in November 2017 for similar sexual abuse committed against five victims under 16. 

The court was told how the abuse suffered by the boy in September 2009, then aged just 13, caused a noticeable change in his behaviour and pushed him to try and take his own life. 

Through a victim impact statement read out in court, the courageous young man said: 'Kieron Young has ruined my life by what he has done to me. That's why I tried to kill myself. I had to continue with this on my own for eight-and-a-half years. I pushed what happened to the back of my mind, although I never forgot what happened and thought about it every day.'

Prosecutor Richard Sheldon described how Young struck up contact with the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, by messaging him on Facebook.

Mr Sheldon said Young, who was then aged 18, purported to be 14-years-old and in the year above him at school, and the complainant believed they would have a relationship akin to that of an older and younger brother. 

Young then lured him to his home in St Mary's View, Greasbrough, Rotherham, and once inside, he ordered him to strip off. 

When the boy complied, Young took indecent photographs of him, before committing serious sexual crimes against the boy, and forcing him to watch as he performed a sex act on himself. 

'The defendant told the boy not to tell anyone what had happened, and told him if he did he would put the pictures online. The boy felt his life would effectively be ruined if that happened,' said Mr Sheldon. 

Despite initially refusing to be interviewed by police, Young, now of HMP Doncaster, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a child and one count of meeting after grooming a child at an earlier hearing. 

Mohammed Rafiq, defending, said: 'He knows he has caused some pain and suffering to the complainant here, and regrets it. And looking back now, he regrets it very much. If he could turn back the clock he would like to do that, but he can't.'

In addition to jailing Young for 10 years in November last year for the sexual abuse committed against five victims, some of whom were under 13, Judge Thomas also sentenced him to an extended license period of three years due to deeming him as '˜dangerous' and a risk to the public. 

During today's hearing, Judge Thomas sentenced Young to six years in prison for the crimes committed against the boy, but said it would have to run concurrently to the sentence imposed last year due to the '˜technicalities' around sentencing guidelines. 

Speaking directly to the abuse survivor and his loved ones in the public gallery, Judge Thomas said: 'I'm sorry that sentencing gets so technical. There was a day when sentencing, in fact, was much more straight-forward, and wasn't constrained by these technicalities. 

'I hope this, at last, brings some sort of closure with things and you can move on with life.'