A TEENAGER who lured a young boy away from his home and sexually assaulted him has been sentenced to 15 months’ youth custody.

Judge David Croft, QC, rejected a submission that Matthew Ashurst be allowed his freedom and receive treatment on an intensive programme and said he could not avoid imposing custody.

Ashurst, of Parr Avenue, Gillingham, admitted sexual assault. He denied a further assault on the seven-year-old boy and one on a girl, aged four, and the charges were not proceeded with.

Eleanor Laws, prosecuting, said the victim told his mother, on June 7, that he was going to see a friend. About an hour later, the friend turned up asking for the boy.

The mother went looking for her son and became increasingly upset and anxious but, shortly afterwards, he appeared from an alleyway at the side of the house. When she spoke to him he became upset and repeatedly said he was sorry.

He told her he had been taken into a tent by a boy who kept talking to him. He described how the youth had pulled down his shorts and touched him.

Miss Laws said Ashurst, then aged 17, had been seen talking to the boy and then pulled him under a cover. The victim said that Ashurst had said he wanted to play with him. The teenager had pulled something over them and committed a sex act on the boy.

The boy told his mother that he did not like boys, he liked girls. He said he told Ashurst he wanted to go home but he would not let him.

The victim’s mother spoke to Ashurst’s mother, who apologised for her son’s behaviour and told her to call the police.”

Ashurst, now 18, at first denied the incident happened.

The victim’s mother said her son would not go into his bedroom until the curtains were closed and he had nightmares about Ashurst coming up the stairs.

Deborah Champion, defending, said Ashurst was a damaged young man. “It is absolutely clear he is deeply embarrassed and ashamed about what has happened.”

She added that Ashurst was in dire need of a programme to address his behaviour. “If he receives a lengthy custodial sentence that sort of programme is unlikely to be available for someone of his particular difficulties,” she said. “He cries out for some kind of guidance.”

Judge Croft said it was a worrying case because Ashurst was only 17 when he committed the offence. “What you did is so wrong and your victim is still emotionally upset. I have considered with care whether a custodial sentence can be avoided. In my view, it can’t.”

The judge also ordered that Ashurst remain on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and be banned from working with children.