Two paedophiles who held a little boy down on a bed and abused him as he demanded to be let go have been jailed.
Gareth Culshaw, 52 and John O’Brien, 67, were reunited in the dock last week as they were sentenced for abusing a child in the 2010s.
Culshaw had previously pleaded guilty to seven charges of sexual assault of a child under 13 relating to two young children - and one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity in relation to one of the "defenceless and innocent" victims.
O’Brien was convicted at trial of one count of sexual assault of a child under 13 years of age relating to a joint offence with Culshaw and representing at least two instances of touching.
Myles Wilson, prosecuting, told Chester Crown Court how the boy was abused at least twice by Culshaw and O’Brien, including when the young victim was held down on a bed.
Three of the counts against Culshaw, who lived in Runcorn at the time of the offences, were sexual assaults of a little girl, whom he assaulted twice in a car and a third time in a house.
A little boy was abused at least twice by Culshaw and O’Brien, including when the young victim was held down on a bed.
The abuse came to light when an adult overheard a conversation between a child and one of the victims, who then told their parents and alerted the police, LiverpoolEcho reports.
In her interview with investigators, the girl said Culshaw had driven her to some woods and began removing his and her clothes in the back seat but stopped when a car drove past before he returned to the driver’s seat and drove off.
The young boy said his abuse took place in Culshaw’s bed.
As he began to open up about what happened, he told his family he was also assaulted by a man called "Jimmy", whom he would later identify as O’Brien in a video ID parade.
Assaults involved the boy being "pushed" onto the bed and the abusers taking off their tops and watching each other committing abuse.
There was also an occasion when "both got on the bed with tops off touching him" and he told them "to get off".
When interviewed by police, Culshaw and O’Brien denied the allegations, but were convicted via guilty eight pleas in the case of Culshaw and a guilty verdict at trial for O’Brien.
A victim statement from the boy’s dad said that since the disclosures, his son has suffered "mood swings" due to being "deeply affected by the sexual abuse he’s suffered".
The dad said the impact was "draining and devastating" for them, while the boy said his ordeal has left him "worried and scared" in case "Culshaw came to get him", as well as suffering nightmares.
There was no personal statement in relation to the girl.
Mr Wilson said Culshaw was previously sentenced to 10 years at Chester Crown Court in 2017 for three counts of rape of a teenage girl under the age of 16, in an unconnected case.
O’Brien had no previous convictions.
Matthew Dunford, appearing for Culshaw, said Culshaw had pleaded guilty to the charges, "albeit at a late stage" .
He said the author of Culshaw’s pre-sentence report said she "hopes he uses his time constructively while in prison", with Mr Dunford adding: "In my submission, he’s already seeking to do that."
That argument didn’t convince the judge, Recorder Lawrence McDonald, who rebutted the claim by telling Culshaw if he wanted his crimes to be dealt with together, "it was open to you to ask for these to be dealt with at the same time".
Carmel Wilde, appearing for O’Brien, said she didn’t "seek to minimise the awful effect that this offending has had on (his victim) as his father has movingly described in the personal statement".
The recorder sentenced Culshaw to 11 years in prison, with two-thirds to be served before consideration for parole, and O’Brien to four years and six months.
He said Culshaw had used the boy for his "own sexual gratification" and in the joint offence Culshaw and O’Brien had "held him down on the bed and forcibly touched him".
Recorder Lawrence said: "This catalogue of sexual abuse of two very young children over a period of years displays the depths of depravity to which both of you sank."
The judge said the victims were "extremely vulnerable".
He added: "They were entirely defenceless and innocent young children who you abused, both of you for your own gratification."
Recorder McDonald ordered Sexual Harm Prevention Orders for both defendants and said both would remain on the sex offenders register for life.
The judge held back from subjecting Culshaw to extended licence under the "dangerousness" provisions, though noted this did not mean Culshaw was not a "danger" to children.
He added they would have to pay a statutory surcharge.
The identities of Culshaw and O’Brien’s victims, who were younger than 10 years of age at the time of the offences, are protected for life under UK law.
