Shrewsbury Boys' Brigade helper sexually assaulted young boy
A man indecently assaulted a young boy while working for the Boys' Brigade at a church in Shrewsbury in the 1980s, a court heard.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was the fourth boy to come forward and make a complaint about Richard Ainsworth during his time with the brigade at United Reformed Church in Coleham Head.
But he had already been dealt with for the other three – by way of a probation order in 1984 and cautions in 1999 and 2007 – and avoided a jail term again when sentenced for the latest complaint at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday.
Judge Robin Onions told Ainsworth he would have received a jail term of between three and five years if he had been sentencing him for all four assaults.
He did jail Ainsworth for two years. But after hearing the 64-year-old defendant, now living in Colwyn Bay, had not offended since being booted out of the brigade in the late 1980s, the judge suspended the term.
Mr Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said Ainsworth indecently assaulted the boy making the latest allegation in a corridor of the church some time between 1984 and 1987, when the victim would have been aged between nine and 12.
Mr Anthony Potter, for Ainsworth, said his client had not committed a similar offence for 30 years after leaving the brigade.
"He feels awful about what he has done and perceives it as a sin," Mr Potter said.
Ainsworth was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years. He will remain under the supervision of the probation service and was also ordered to pay £250 towards court costs.
