A paedophile took boys to McDonald’s and Cheshire Oaks before subjecting them to sickening abuse.
James Blundell embarked upon a depraved campaign of rape and sexual assaults after grooming his victims with cash and sweets. He was said to have had a “longstanding sexual interest in children”, which a judge said had led to a catalogue of “predatory sexual behaviour”.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday, Thursday, that the 36-year-old befriended one of the children and paid him £10 in order to wash his car. The boy then carried out further chores at his home in return for “pocket money”.
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Michael Scholes, prosecuting, described how Blundell, of Wesley Avenue in Haydock, subsequently took him out in his car to buy sweets and on trips to McDonald’s, Southport and Cheshire Oaks. He would often return the child home after giving him a £10 note.
But, around two months later, concerns were raised to his parents by a neighbour. This prompted his mother to ask him “has James ever been silly with you?”, at which he became “immediately very distressed” and even “so distressed that he was physically sick”.
He would go on to describe the vile sexual abuse he had been subjected to by Blundell – who had attempted to rape him, performed sex acts on him and performed a sex act in his presence, as well as sending him a picture of his penis. The boy recalled one incident where he was forced to perform a sex act on the pervert after he had pulled over following a drive along the East Lancs Road.
Afterwards, he warned his victim not to tell his mum as he “would be in big trouble”. On another occasion, Blundell stopped in a car park during a trip to Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet.
Then, having bought him food from McDonald’s, he attempted to touch the boy’s private parts over his clothing. However, the complainant “kept blocking him so that he could not touch it”.
It then emerged that Blundell had abused a second victim after these offences were reported to the police in November last year. This boy described how the defendant had taken him to McDonald’s in Earlestown.
They then parked up at a nearby sports club, where the sex offender “started to talk about sexual things and told him how he had had sexually transmitted diseases”. He showed the youngster pornography on his phone and asked to see his penis, although he refused.
Blundell told the boy that his own penis was “proper small”, then pulled it from his trousers and began waving it around while laughing before returning him home. He later sent the youngster a series of “inappropriate” messages on Instagram, including pornographic images.
Following his arrest, three category C indecent images of children were found on Blundell’s phone – which was recovered from underneath his pillow. An image of a person performing oral sex on a dog was also found on the device.
Blundell was previously handed a 12-month imprisonment suspended for two years by the same court in 2016 after pleading guilty to attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child, distributing indecent images of children, possession of indecent indecent images of children and three counts of making indecent images of children. He was also handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
His defence counsel told the court: “He accepts that there is nothing at all I can say on his behalf to mitigate the truly horrific crimes that he has committed. He, through me, offers his most sincere apologies to the young children and their families, and everybody who has been affected by his terrible actions.
“He accepts how awful these crimes he has committed were and has shown that he is somebody who has an unhealthy interest in young children. He is also somebody who wants the help to ensure, when he is released from the sentence that awaits, that he can rehabilitate himself and ensure that he is no longer a danger to society.”
Blundell admitted three counts of rape, two charges of attempted rape, three offences of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, three counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, engaging in sexual communications with a child, possession of indecent images of children, making indecent images of children, possession of an extreme pornographic image and two charges of breaching a sexual harm prevention order. He was jailed for 14 years and five months and handed an additional five years on licence.
Sentencing, Judge Anil Murray said: “It is clear that you have a long standing sexual interest in children. Lives are ruined by behaviour like this.
“Your motivation was clear. This was predatory sexual behaviour.”
Blundell was also handed a restraining order lasting 15 years and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order. He must sign the sex offenders’ register for life.
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Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
