A FORMER social worker and councillor was jailed for eight years after being found guilty of sexually abusing a young boy in his care.

Colin Wappat, 65, abused the boy from when he was only a teenager, in the 1970s.

The youngster's nightmare began when he was a resident at a children's home in East Boldon, near Sunderland.

Wappat, then a social worker, abused him at the home and in his car and during a holiday at a caravan in Filey.

Penny Moreland, prosecuting, told the court: "He was a social worker and the boy was in care at the time and living at the children's home.

"He was placed there at a time when Mr Wappat had a position of responsibility. The prosecution say Mr Wappat took advantage of that position and abused the boy while he was in care."

Up until the 1980s, Wappat assaulted the boy and even took him to his own home, then in Peterlee, County Durham.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how Wappat met a second youngster through his first victim and took him to a caravan in Filey. Once there he plied the boy with alcohol and temazepam before indecently assaulting him.

Miss Moreland told the court how Wappat waited until the boy was asleep before creeping into bed and abusing him. Wappat's marriage had broken down, the court heard.

Wappat, of Heaton, Newcastle, was found guilty of four charges of indecent assault and a serious sexual offence