A PENSIONER from Barry has been jailed for 22 years for abusing a boy who he groomed for sex in the 1970s.

Colin Wood, 64, of Somerset Street, Barry had escaped justice for years because his victim could not find the courage to go to the police. The truth emerged after a naked picture of the victim was found in Wood's bedside cabinet.

The former bus driver denied any form of sexual misconduct but was found guilty after his victim told the jury at Exeter Crown Court how the abuse had blighted his childhood and cast a shadow over his life.

Wood was living in Braunton, North Devon, and working as a handy man and a bus driver when he carried out the most serious sexual assaults on the boy, who was a teenager by that time.

He had been grooming the victim for sex for several years, during which he abused the child on a regular basis and ensured his silence by threats of violence.

He also took naked Polaroid pictures of the boy, one of which was found by a witness in his bedside cabinet many years later.

Police were unable to find or recover the photograph but the witness confirmed it showed the boy in a sexual pose, lying naked on a bed.

After a week long trial at Exeter Crown Court, Wood was found guilty of eight offences of indecency and two offences of rape and was jailed for 22 years.

Judge Francis Gilbert, QC told Wood he had groomed the boy over a number of years and used him for his own perverted sexual gratification.

The victim told the court that he had been too frightened to tell anyone about it at the time but started to reveal his ordeal while at University. He finally asked for help from a chaplain but did not feel able to go to the police until two years ago.

He told the jury the abuse was "repulsive" and made him feel frightened, worthless and ashamed.

Officers traced another witness who found the Polaroid picture in Wood’s bedside cabinet many years later and realised that it suggested inappropriate activity had taken place.

Prosecutor Virginia Cornwall told the jury:”The photograph has not been found but the complainant remembers Wood taking it. We say he kept it for his own sexual purposes and it demonstrates a sexual interest in the child.

“The fact that the complainant has also told a number of people about the abuse shows his inner turmoil. It was not until 2013 when he considered it was the right time to go to the police.”