May 2006 Family of paedophile victim talks of ordeal AS PERVERT John Barden (53) begins a four-year jail sentence for assaulting a six-year-old boy, the victim’s brave parents have told how the attack has devastated their lives.They hope that their shocking story will come as a warning to other parents. Barden was a paedophile, with two convictions for assaults on children. But when Barden moved to the Ortons, in Peterborough, in 2001, the youngster’s family had no clue of his murky past and kindly extended the hand of friendship. Barden was to go on to betray them in the most despicable way, preying on one of their children. He pounced in January 2005, subjecting the child to a despicable sexual assault which the entire family are still struggling to come to terms with. The boy’s softly spoken mother, who left her lad in Barden’s care for just half an hour, said: “He always came across as a bloke who’d had a hard up-bringing and just wanted to be involved, so that’s what we tried to do. “This was someone we had befriended and allowed into our home and we still can’t believe how he betrayed us.” After the brave boy blew the whistle on Barden’s sick behaviour, his parents rallied around to support their son who they say is still emotionally scarred by the experience. His father said: “He felt ashamed and dirty and thought he would be made to go to his bedroom for doing something wrong. “When he told us, we just didn’t want to believe it. Your first reaction is that this can’t be true. But our son would never lie. “He still talks about it frequently. We let him talk to us and our other children understand what happened, we’re a very open family. We’ve praised him for being so brave. “He’s a very strong boy and we hope that he will be strong enough to come through this.” The parents admit that there were times when they considered pulling the plug to save their son the trauma of giving evidence. But they persevered because they knew Barden could pose a danger to countless other children. The victim’s mother said: “It was the thought of other children and what this has done to us that kept us going. We didn’t want him to be able to put another family through what he’s put us through. “We’ve told our son that because of him being so brave for standing up and telling the truth from the start no other child will be hurt. “He’s very upset at the sentence. We explained to him that it was for four years and he said “no mummy, forever” and I told him again it was just four years, and he repeated “forever”. “My son will live with this for the rest of his life, but in three years’ time hel (Barden] will be free.” Barden went on the run after he was arrested, sparking a seven-month man hunt. He was eventually tracked down in Wales. The family’s 15 month wait for justice ended when Barden pleaded guilty to forcing a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity. Sentencing Barden at Peterborough Crown Court, Judge Nicholas Coleman branded the monster “dangerous”. Now the parents are warning other mums and dads to be careful about who trust. The mother said: “What he did has consumed all of our lives for 15 months. “All parents think that it won’t happen to their child. We’re not the sort of parents who leave their kids with anyone else, so for this to happen to us just goes to show it really can happen to anyone.”