March 2004 Paedophile lured victims to pit A serial paedophile who subjected two seven-year-old boys to horrific sex attacks in a subterranean pit at his home has been jailed for life. Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that Thomas Titley, 46, carried out a string of sex attacks on the victims in a cellar and a six foot deep hole he had dug underneath the floorboards of his flat in Walsall, West Midlands. Titley had warned that he was a danger to children after he was released from jail for previous sex offences against boys. Judge Robert Orme also sentenced the sex offender to a concurrent 18 year jail term after being told how Titley lured the boys to his home with the promise of cigarettes and alcohol. Titley, of Corporation Street West, pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault, six of indecency with a child, and four of child abduction at a previous hearing. He also admitted charges of false imprisonment and breaching a sex offender order. Judge Orme described the offences, which were committed in late 2001 and January 2002, as horrific. He told Titley: “You have exhibited, both in your frank and candid admissions to the police and your attitude to the probation service and psychiatrists, a totally depraved and abusive attitude towards young children. “Nobody knows what long-term effect your acts are going to have (on the victims) – I can only hope and pray that the damage that has been done is damage from which they will recover. I would hope that you would not be released until those responsible at the Parole Board are satisfied that you no longer present a risk to children.” Jeanette Williams, prosecuting, disclosed that Titley was jailed in 1996 for four-and-a-half years for sex offences against boys. The court heard that the paedophile moved to Corporation Street West in May 2000, having spent 12 months at a probation hostel following his release from prison.