Ex-navy officer jailed for sex attack on teenager in Stevenage 40 years ago
A former Navy officer has been jailed for a sex attack on a teenage boy 40 years after it took place.
Paul King was jailed for eight years for the assaults he carried out on the 16-year-old boy in Fairlands Valley Park in Stevenage.
Developments in DNA testing allowed cold case detectives to link King, 63, to the assaults on 10 February 1983, St Albans Crown Court heard.
King, who was 23 years old at the time, approached the boy who was pushing his bike home in the snow between 9pm and 10pm.
He asked him for the time and the boy said he did not have a watch. King then grabbed him from behind and attempted to sexually assault him before forcing the boy to give him oral sex. King then fled the scene.
The boy went to the police station with his family after telling them he was attacked.
Swabs were taken but King had no convictions in 1983 and was not identified.
He was finally linked to the case during a review when matches were made with samples taken after he had committed further offences.
King, of Montpelier, Brighton, pleaded guilty to attempted buggery and indecent assault on the day his trial was due to start in December.
He had five previous convictions for nine offences. In 1984, he was convicted of gross indecency and indecent assault. In March 1991 he was convicted of two indecent assaults and two offences of buggery.
Richard Elliott, defending, said King could not remember the details of the offence. He said he felt remorse and understood that he committed the offence.
Jailing him, Judge Michael Roques said: “You were 23 at the time and in the Navy. You were an adult and he was a child. You were physically strong. He was absolutely terrified. You have had a devastating impact on his life.”
The judge said the offences would now be charged as attempted rape and rape.
He said King would have to serve two-thirds of the eight-year sentence before he could be considered for parole and must register as a sex offender indefinitely.
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