Suffolk sex abuser who 'robbed boy of childhood' jailed

Robin Croft was jailed for 12 years

A man who "robbed a boy of a normal and healthy childhood" due to years of sexual abuse has been jailed.

Robin Croft, 61, of Marigold Drive, Red Lodge in Suffolk groomed a schoolboy and forced him to perform sex acts by telling him it was "normal".

Croft was convicted of 11 counts of sexual assault of a boy under 13 and inciting a child to engage in sexual acts.

He was jailed for 12 years at Ipswich Crown Court.

Croft groomed his victim and gained his trust before starting to sexually abuse him, the court heard.

He sexually touched the boy and then encouraged him to reciprocate, which "quickly escalated" to sexual acts, said Judge Rupert Overbury during sentencing.

"Your actions robbed a young boy of a normal and healthy childhood," the judge said.

The "prolonged and abhorrent" abuse, which lasted up to four years, happened more than a decade ago, the court heard.

Judge Overbury said: "All the while you assured him what you were doing was normal... You told him that you loved him, you wanted his babies and the homosexual activity was just sex and didn't matter enough to worry about him being homosexual.

"He was a child and you affected his thinking to such an extent that for years he thought he was a homosexual."