February 2015 Devon cub leader jailed for abusing seven-year-old boy A former cub scout leader has been jailed for sexually assaulting a seven-year-old boy during a game of hide and seek. Clive Williams locked himself in a room with the victim, who was so traumatised he refuse to go to the cub scout meetings which his abuser ran in the 1980s. The boy told his mother what had happened at the time and although Williams was stopped from working with the cubs or scouts, no complaint was made to the police. The victim finally reported the offence more than 30 years after it happened as a result of counselling he received for the continuing psychological damage he suffered. Ex soldier Williams assaulted the boy twice when he went to his home to play with his own son, who was also aged seven at the time. Williams, aged 66, now of Hameldown Way, Newton Abbot, admitted two offences of indecent assault and was jailed for two years by Judge Phillip Wassall at Exeter Crown Court. The Judge told him the assaults had caused long term traumatic effects to the victim and had been committed in breach of trust. He told him:”The boy’s parents permitted him to play with your son and he ended up with this happening. At the time you were a cub leader. This offending did not happen at the cubs but the fact is that you held that position in society. “People who send their children to the cubs do not expect the cub masters in their private lives to be doing these sorts of things.” Mr David Evans, prosecuting, said Williams assaulted the boy in an alley way next to his home and in a bedroom during a game of hide and seek, in which he locked him inside while other children were looking for him. When they knocked on the door he put the boy on top of a cupboard to hide him and then let them in. After the first assault he bought the boy sweets to reward him. He said the boy told his mother what had happened and she told another cub leader. The result was that Williams was excluded from the organisation but neither the mother nor the cubs called in the police. The boy remained haunted by his experiences and confronted Williams in the street outside his home in 1997, only for him to reply ‘oh, yeah, sorry’ and walk on. He denied anything happened in police interviews and maintained his denial until the morning of his trial, when he changed his plea. Mr Deni Matthews, defending, said the offences happened at a low point in Williams’ life, when he was under a lot of domestic pressure, and were the only blemish in an otherwise blameless life. He said his client had served his country during a career in the infantry during which he saw active service and has always helped others. He said:”The real Clive Williams is a kind, compassionate and selfless man.”