A PAEDOPHILE from the North-East has become the youngest person in the country to be jailed indefinitely after being branded “a significant danger” by a judge.
Former football club steward Jason Langstaff was 20 when he lured a nine-year-old boy into a closed community centre, locked him in a disabled toilet and raped him in March.
Langstaff later told a probation officer that he had fantasised for months about carrying out such an attack, and got satisfaction from the distress he caused the youngster.
Judge Howard Crowson imposed a sentence of imprisonment for public protection and told Langstaff he will be freed only when he is no longer considered to be a danger.
After the case, the victim’s family and the police welcomed the hard-line punishment – effectively a life sentence which is imposed only on offenders who are aged over 21.
Langstaff, who turned 21 last month, admitted raping the boy at a hearing in June. He denied doing an act with intent to commit a sexual act – kidnapping the boy to rape him.
Yesterday, his barrister Rod Hunt argued that he was too young to be regarded as a future risk.
But the judge, sitting at Teesside Crown Court, told Mr Hunt: “I cannot rule out this happening again... his actions appear to be driven by his paedophilia and sexual fantasy.”
The court heard that Langstaff was convicted in 2006 for a sexual offence involving a two-year-old child when he was 15, and a further complaint was made three years later.
Mr Hunt acknowledged it was a serious case and that Langstaff accepted he had “something wrong with me”, but he said: “Who knows how he will change over the years?”
The court heard how Langstaff, of Dover Road, Stockton, persuaded the boy to go with him and broke into a community centre on the Ragworth estate through a fire door.
After being abandoned following the attack, the victim was found in a distressed state and immediately told relatives what had happened. Langstaff was trapped by DNA evidence.
Mr Hunt said: “I asked him if there was anything he would like to say and he said, ‘I would just like to say I’m very, very sorry and I know I’ve got something wrong with me’.”
Judge Crowson told Langstaff: “This was a nine-year-old boy targeted to fulfil the fantasies you had created in your own mind, against a background of previous sexual offending.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article