November 2007 Man jailed for raping young boys A MAN who raped two boys and sexually abused a third youngster, has been jailed until he is not longer considered a danger. David Johns was told by a judge that he had carried out a “very serious catalogue of sexual abuse”, involving grooming, repeated activity and a degree of pressure. The 28-year-old year old was also told he will only be released in future if it is considered safe to do so. A minimum term was set at five and a half years, but less time spent on remand this equates to four years and a hundred and one days. Johns, of Rawsthorne Street, Blackburn had pleaded to a number of offences – three charges of rape, one of indecent assault, two of sexual activity with a child, two of causing a child to indulge in sexual activity and one of abduction. Preston Crown Court heard that one of the boys had been given sweets and cigarettes. Johns had fondled him in a garden shed and on a later occasion, raped him at his home. Johns had also carried out a second rape upon the same boy. Another boy was raped by the defendant, who threw him onto a bed, pinned him down and sexually attacked him. He even told that victim there was no point in him shouting, as no-one would be able to hear him. Johns went on to commit sexual offences on a third boy, effectively “taking him over”. That youngster felt “brainwashed” and the defendant had even suggested he had cancer in order to get sympathy from him. Miss Rosalind Emsley-Smith, defending, said: “He has illustrated remorse and significant victim empathy which he spoke with a psychiatrist. He stated to the psychiatrist he didn’t want the boys to blame themselves for what happened. “He didn’t want them to think it was in any way their fault. He said ‘What I have done will have affected them a great deal’.” Johns will be on the sex offenders list for life. He will also be banned indefinitely from working with children and subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.