Child sex abuser moved house to be closer to teenage victim after grooming him and his dad

A man has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual assault against a child.

Stuart Baker, 36, of Gauden Road, Stourbridge, was jailed at Warwick Crown Court after grooming the teenage boy and repeatedly targeted him between 2017 and 2020.

He met the boy’s father in 2015 and befriended the family. Police say he groomed the boy and sexually abused him on numerous occasions, even moving house to be closer to his victim.

He was reported to the NSPCC in 2020 when he drunkenly told a colleague that he was sending sexually explicit messages to an underage boy.

The 36-year-old was sentenced last week, when he was also added to the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

Detective Inspector Ed Peake from Warwickshire Police said: “Baker is a manipulative and dangerous man; he didn’t just groom his victim, he groomed his whole family.

"They thought of him as a friend but all the time he was working to satisfy his sexual desires.

"He didn’t just manipulate his victim sexually, but also emotionally; he would tell the victim not to tell anyone what they were doing because he would get into trouble, he would get jealous when the victim talked about having a girlfriend and at one point threatened to commit suicide.“

Following the sentencing, the victim’s family released a statement saying: “Today, after a long time of pain and suffering we finally got justice and although our family can never forget, we can finally start to move on with our lives.

"We hope this will send out a clear message for anyone suffering abuse or too afraid to speak up.

"Please reach out to someone you trust, go through the process and you will get the justice and closure you deserve. This will never be your fault and you are not to blame, you are a targeted victim of an abuser and this won’t stop until we speak up and save other innocent children from this trauma.”