Paedophile Corby bus driver 'groomed' vulnerable boy

A former bus driver from Corby used the lure of cigarettes and alcohol to try to persuade a 15-year-old boy to engage in vile sexual acts with him.

James Barrie, 56, spent four months last year sending sickening texts to try to persuade the lad to take part in sexual activity.

The youngster, described in court as 'vulnerable', met the messages with either silence or a simple 'no,' but the defendant persisted in sending them.

At a sentencing hearing at Northampton Crown Court yesterday (Thursday, October 22) prosecuting barrister Gary Short said: "This is a text campaign inciting a child into engaging in penetrative sexual activity using alcohol and cigarettes. We're saying he groomed the victim."

The court heard how Barrie, of Rockingham Mews, off Stephenson Way, had bought alcohol for the boy. On one occasion, he drank some of the boy's alcohol and texted him to tell him that he would buy him more if he engaged in an illegal sexual act.

Mr Short continued: "All he wanted was for the messages to stop. He deleted the messages but took some screenshots before he did so."

Eventually the boy found the courage to tell a friend who alerted police and Barrie was arrested.

When questioned, Barrie initially denied the charge and told officers he had believed he was talking to an adult and that it was 'nothing more than sexual banter.'

Eventually, in September this year before he was due to stand trial, he admitted the offences and pleaded guilty to a charge of inciting the boy to engage in penetrative sexual activity.

The boy was so traumatised by the messages that he was unable to give a full victim impact statement. He said: "I don't want to write this as I don't like thinking about what happened.

"When I do get reminded it can bring me down for weeks.

"I just want it all over and done with."

The court was told that Barrie had no similar convictions on his record, but did have 18 previous convictions including a history of violence in the 1980s and 1990s. He had also spent eight months in prison and was given a restraining order in 2012 for an ABH offence.

Mitigating, Liam Muir argued that Barrie should not be handed an immediate custodial sentence.

He said: "The fact someone is ashamed of their actions makes rehabilitation more likely. When someone remains ashamed by their offending...it shows they still believe that it's wrong which is important in turning them around."

Mr Muir said that Barrie had voluntarily accessed local services to help him deal with cannabis and alcohol use that had worsened after he had lost his job.

Her Honour Judge Rebecca Crane said: "You have stopped drinking and smoking cannabis and you have a real motivation to change.

"The victim must have been vulnerable. The events took place over a number of months.

"You didn't voluntarily desist. This was a matter where you were only stopped because of the actions taken by others to report the matters to the authorities."

Shortening Barrie's sentence by 20 per cent because of his guilty plea, Judge Crane gave him a 20-month prison term, suspended for two years. He must also complete a 30-day rehabilitation course and take part in the Horizon Programme which is set up to attempt to rehabilitate low and medium-risk sex offenders.

He was also given a seven-year sexual harm prevention order and was put on the sex offenders' register for the same amount of time.

If you are a child that has been abused, you can access support at https://www.childline.org.uk/ or by phoning them on 0800 1111.

If you would like to report abuse, historic or current, you can do so by phoning Northamptonshire Police on their website or by calling 101.