'Lonely' Castleford paedophile bought boy drugs in exchange for abuse

Andrew Winton from Castleford “preyed” on the young teenager after he was introduced to him by a friend. The boy had left home and was hanging around the streets around a decade ago, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Winton, who is now 55, would first offer him lifts and invite him to his home before offering him cash and drugs. He then asked to perform sex acts on the youngster, who agreed.

He became so obsessed with the boy that he even kept a picture of him on his fireplace. The boy’s life has since descended into drug addiction.

Jailing Winton, Judge Ray Singh said: “You knew his vulnerabilities and you preyed on him immediately. It was repeated time and time and time again.

"You must have seen the downward spiral he was taking, the amount of drugs he was taking and you did nothing to help.”

The court heard that police stopped Winton and the child several times and he was issued with a harbourer’s warning, to stay away from him, but it failed to deter him.

He initially denied any wrongdoing to police, claiming he thought the boy was over 16. He eventually admitted four counts of sexual activity with a child.

Mitigating, Michael Collins said Winton, of Falcon Drive, Castleford, claimed he was abused as a child and he himself had a “miserable life”.

He said: “The only meaningful relationship he has enjoyed is the one with his his mother, and she died in 1997. He has no friends and his life is lonely.

"He was an adult who should have known. He has empathy for his victim, he is sorry.”

But Judge Singh rejected this claim “out of hand”, and said Winton knew the boy’s age and pointed to a probation report that suggested that he blamed the victim. He said that Winton minimised his actions by saying the victim came to him, that is was consensual and even claimed he was trapped by the boy.

Winton was given a life-long sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to minimise any risk of repeated offending on his release.