May 2006

Life term for rape attempt on boy

A man has been jailed for life for trying to rape a 13-year-old boy scout as he slept in a tent with his friends.

Graham Wilson, 47, of Rectory Close, Farnham Royal, Bucks, entered the scout campsite in October last year and went inside the boys’ tent.

Wilson, who has a history of sex crimes, had pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting three boys, but denied the rape and attempted rape charges.

He must serve a minimum of five years before being eligible for parole.

He was also sentenced to six years, to run concurrently, for three counts of sexually molesting the attempted rape victim and two other boys aged 10 and 13.

The court heard that after molesting two of the boys, he unzipped the 13-year-old boy’s sleeping bag and, after stroking his legs, tried to rape him.

‘Psychological effect’

Wilson told the court he “wanted to be aroused but didn’t want them to wake up”, and that his “sexual urges had taken over”.

The court heard Wilson had a history of sexual offences involving children, including exposing himself to Eton College pupils and offering a young boy £10 to perform a sex act.

In 2002, he was discovered at the entrance to a tent in another scout camp near his home but told police he had taken a short cut after losing his car keys and agreed not to go where he might come into contact with children under 16.

Judge Christopher Tyrer told Wilson: “This is not about your sexuality. It is about your insatiable lust for pubescent boys, which you are apparently wholly unable to control in any responsible way at all.”

He ordered that Wilson be placed on the sex offenders register for life and banned him from working with children.

The judge added: “The events of (that) night will remain in the minds of the boys who you abused and who knew they were being abused, their parents and those who run their scouting activities for a very long time.

“The emotional and psychological effect of what you did to them is incalculable.”