A PAEDOPHILE who sexually assaulted young children tried to groom yet another underage boy by making 'sinister' gifts of chocolate, a birthday card and accessories for his bike.

Simon Clancy of Teme Road, Tolladine, Worcester, also asked the 14-year-old boy to mow his lawn and asked him to come to his home, offering to teach him exercises to ‘develop his abs’.

The 43-year-old shook his head as he was led down into the cells by dock officers to begin a 43 month prison sentence (three and a half years) at Worcester Crown Court on Monday.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright rejected a request to suspend the sentence, citing Clancy's repeated and 'flagrant' breaches of a sexual harm prevention order (SOPO) designed to prevent him preying on children.

Clancy admitted three breaches of the SOPO in the autumn and winter of 2017 when he had contact wih the 14-year-old, guilty pleas entered on the day of trial. Three further such offences will be allowed to lie on file.

The SOPO was put in place because Clancy was convicted of indecent assaults against a seven-year-old boy in 1993 when he was aged 17. He made the boy play a game which involved taking off his clothes, touching the boy and encouraging the boy to touch him. When the boy said he wanted 'mummy and daddy' Clancy told him not to tell them and said he would be 'smacked if he told mummy'.

The following year, when he was 19, he committed further indecent assaults, this time against two underage girls (aged 13).

One of the girls was indecently assaulted under her clothing as she slept and he also placed her hand upon him.

Clancy breached the sexual offences prevention order six times in 2010 and, when the order was amended in 2013, he breached it on two further occasions.

Amanda O’Mara, prosecuting, described how during last year's breaches Clancy bought accessories for the boy’s bike.

The boy’s mother asked how much she owed him but the defendant said she did not need to pay for the items which included a light, lock and reflector. He also gave the boy a lift to the dentist, asking him to sit in the front of his car. He bought the boy chocolate and a birthday card and asked him if he would like to cut his grass, something he never did. The boy described how the defendant was ‘over-friendly’ and made him feel ‘awkward’.

Miss O’Mara said: “He suggested the boy go around to his house and he could show him some exercises to develop his abdomen.”

Clancy was arrested by his offender manager on April 13 this year. The mother of the boy read out a victim personal statement in court and said Clancy’s behaviour had left her and her family ‘stressed and worried’ and her children were ‘scared to be in the garden alone’.

The woman wept as she recounted the family's ordeal. She said: “I would feel better if Simon was detained. I feel he needs medical help and support.”

The woman said the defendant’s actions made her feel ‘sick’ and she felt ‘very sad about his deception’.

Previous breaches of the order in 2010 included Clancy attending a zumba dance event, taking pictures of children at a kickboxing class and acting as a member of doorstaff at a leaver’s ball where there were children under 16. In 2013 he worked as a steward at Warwick Racecourse despite being prohibited from working anywhere that might bring him into contact with children.

Miss O’Mara said Clancy’s ‘history of disobedience’ towards court orders was an aggravating feature and she argued this was potentially targeting of a particularly vulnerable victim.

Richard Hull, defending, said Clancy ‘struggled with the concept of being supervised’ and acknowledged that the victim’s mother was distressed by what Clancy had done but argued that categorising the offence as causing ‘very serious harm’ was inappropriate.

“He reports to me that he wishes to engage with his offender manager” said Mr Hull who asked the judge to suspend the sentence of imprisonment.

But judge Nicolas Cartwright said Clancy’s actions had been in flagrant breach of the sexual harm prevention order. He told him: “It’s plain you were interested in this young boy. I’m bound to conclude that it was a sexual interest and a sinister one at that.”

He said he placed the breaches in category 1A and said they involved causing very serious harm or distress.

The judge told Clancy the offences were aggravated by his previous convictions and history of disobedience involving sexual offences prevention orders. The judge observed that Clancy had failed to respond to a community sex offender programme, acting 'entirely contrary to everything you had been taught during the course' by grooming the boy.

The judge also noted that Clancy had been subject to post-sentence supervision at the time of the offences.

Clancy was jailed for 43 months. A new sexual harm prevention order prevents him having contact with any child under 18 unless it has been agreed by his police offender manager and children's or social services. The order also restricts him contacting other sex offenders and from distributing goods (solicited or unsolicited) to any child under 18. He is prohibited from photographing, filming or recording any young person under the age of 18 unless it is the recording of broadcast dramas or television programmes.