A PAEDOPHILE has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years imprisonment at Newport Crown Court for two counts of indecent assault against a young boy.

Rene Seren-Dat, 77, had pleaded not guilty to the charges but was convicted by a jury earlier this year.

Dat was originally charges with 12 counts of indecent assault, but was found not guilty due to lack of evidence and returned not guilty verdicts from a jury on all but the two counts.

But during sentencing on Thursday, the court heard from prosecutor Ieuan Bennett how Seren-Dat took advantage of a young boy who was made vulnerable after the loss of his grandparent.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Seren-Dat moved to an address in Risca in 1998, and he frequently took his victim out on visits to Newport - where the incidents took place.

The court heard how the defendant pretended he was ordained when he was not, and how he took his victim on frequent trips into town where he would buy him sweets and, on one occasion, a bike.

The court also head how the defendant had previous conviction of sexual activity with children under the age of 16 while he worked at a hostel.

Edward Burgess, defending Seren-Dat said: “The offences themselves occurred many years ago.

“The period of time in which the defendant had contact with the victim was relatively short.

“There is no suggestion of offending behaviour since.

“He is [the defendant] no longer a young man - he is 77 year of age.He has ill health.

“Whether it is necessary to send the man into custody today I question.”

But Judge Michael Fitton QC said: “He has energy and a way with words that I think makes him a continued risk.

“The victim was a boy aged nine or ten year old.

He told Seren-Dat, now of The Willows, Middlewood Road, Sheffield: “You were grooming him and misplaced the trust his family placed in you.”

The defendant was sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment; given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, and was also put on the sexual offences register indefinitely.