April 2016 Paedophile Devon scout leader jailed for abusing boy, 8, in shower A disgraced scoutmaster has been jailed for ignoring an order to stay away from children and abusing an eight-year-old. Michael Blyth offered sweets and toys to other children and took a job at a seaside caravan park despite being a convicted paedophile who was banned from contacting children. Police became suspicious that he was grooming children near his home in South Devon but he carried on doing it after a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) was made. He hid his past when he befriended the mother of the eight-year-old and she had no idea he had already served an eight year sentence for abusing boys when he was a scoutmaster in Yorkshire. He offered to take the boy to the swimming pool and spa at the four-star Palace Hotel in Paignton but abused him after joining him naked in a shower. Blyth was branded as a danger to children as he was jailed for seven and a half years by Judge Erik Salomonsen at Exeter Crown Court. The judge also extended Blyth’s licence period and made a new Sexual Harm Prevention Order which will allow police to monitor him after his release. Blyth, 60, of Cotehele Drive, Paignton, admitted four breaches of a SOPO and four counts of making indecent photographs of children. He was jailed for a total of seven and a half years with a two and a half year extended licence. The judge told him: “You are a sex offender with an interest in young children. You began to groom the family, the mother and therefore the child who was to become your victim. “As the probation report points out, all these offences show a pattern of grooming and a clear escalation. There was a blatant disregard of the order which was in place to protect children. “You are assessed as posing a high risk of further sexual offending against children and are a dangerous offender. You broke the terms of the order, were looking at indecent photographs, and went on to commit the sexual assault.” The Judge praised the efforts of Detective Constable Melanie Dunne from the Torbay public protection team, who identified Blyth as a danger, and whose monitoring of him revealed his offending. Peter Coombe, for the prosecution, said Blyth was jailed for eight years at Leeds Crown Court in 1998 for abusing seven boys and two girls while acting as a scout leader. He moved to Devon after his release and DC Dunne became concerned about him in 2012 when he joined a table tennis club where a number of boys played. The police obtained a SOPO in March 2013 but he broke the order by befriending children, offering them sweets and toys, taking them bowling, and getting a job at a holiday park in Torquay. Inquiries showed he had taken the eight-year-old swimming at the Palace Hotel’s spa pool and the boy later revealed to police how he had been abused in the shower. Officers also found 146 indecent images of boys on his computer including three which showed very serious acts of child abuse. Mr Coombe said: “There was a pattern of behaviour of the defendant using various means to have contact with children, so he had obviously learned nothing from the imposition of the SOPO.”