A MAN who plied a teenage boy with drugs before raping and sexually assaulting him for 'depraved sexual satisfaction' has been jailed for 19 years.

Preston Crown Court heard Terrence Eastwood, 64, of Melfort Close, Blackburn, continued to abuse his victim after he contracted HIV.

Eastwood, who was described in court as a 'sexual predator', showered the boy with gifts in an attempt to keep him quiet.

After a two-week trial Eastwood was found guilty of three counts of rape and eight charges of indecent assault.

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The court heard all the historic offences took place a number of years ago and were all committed against the same victim.

Speaking at the conclusion of the case, investigating officer Ifte Ali, of the Blackburn Child Protection Unit, said: “Eastwood took advantage of a vulnerable child who he groomed and abused for his own depraved sexual satisfaction.

“He abused the power he had over his victim and this sentence, which would not have been possible without the courage of the victim and the witnesses, reflects the gravity of his offending over a number of years.

“Lancashire police remains committed to investigating sexual abuse, no matter who the alleged offender and how historic the abuse."

The court heard Eastwood took his victim when he was 12 on a caravan holiday and abused him.

Eastwood bought the victim clothing in an attempt to buy his silence, the court was told.

Prosecutor Hugh Barton told the jury Eastwood, who gave an address of Stopes Brow, Blackburn, in court, would lie on top of the boy.

During the caravan trip the victim said he awoke to find the defendant touching him. Mr Barton said in the same incident Eastwood went on to rape the victim.

Mr Barton said: “The victim was so upset that the following morning he telephoned his mother. This young lad was in tears.

“He was asking her to get him home.”

Mr Barton told the jury that witnesses noticed Eastwood spending an ‘inordinate amount of time with the victim’ and showering him with gifts. Mr Barton said Eastwood was a ‘sexual predator’ who step by step gained the confidence and control of his victim to ultimately use him for his own sexual gratification.

The jury heard the victim returned from another caravan holiday with Eastwood and others.

When the other party returned home early, the victim, who was then a teenager, was raped again.

The court heard when the victim was 17, Eastwood would take him for driving lessons around Whitebirk and repeatedly sexually assault him.

Eastwood would give the victim cocaine and the painkiller Tramadol before raping him.

Eastwood sexually assaulted the then teenager on a trip to the races.

The offending only came to light when the victim confided in a counsellor. The counsellor told police, who arrested Eastwood in 2015.

During police interview he denied sexually abusing the victim, said he contracted HIV by kicking needles, said he had never been on a caravan trip with the complainant and said the only time he had spent alone with him was during driving lessons. But he denied ‘anything untoward’ happened during the time in the car.

Eastwood was sentenced to 19 years for the rapes and 12 years for the sexual assaults by Judge Sara Dodd, which are to run concurrently.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life.