A traumatised victim of a former Cub Scout leader and “serial paedophile” who preyed on young boys has been awarded £48,000 compensation by a judge.

The man, who cannot be identified, was abused by David Hopkins over seven years, and forced to give in to his sickening demands hundreds of times.

Hopkins, 77, of St Anne’s Court Maidstone, was jailed for 10 years in 2003 after admitting 25 sex crimes against children.

Police found photographs and diaries of the abuse kept by Hopkins, who led a Cub Scout group in east Kent.

Some of the crimes took place at his then home in Lyminge.

His victim was one of many who suffered at Hopkins’ hands during the 1980s, and applied for £100,000 damages.

He sued the Scout Association, which admitted it was legally liable for Hopkins’ misdeeds but disputed the amount of the man’s payout.

Judge Martin McKenna said the man was “deserving of sympathy” for his blighted childhood and awarded him £48,000. However, he ruled the abuse could not be blamed for the man’s later descent into a life of crime and drug addiction, nor for a series of failed relationships.

He had also “in effect blackmailed” Hopkins, getting money and gifts out of the paedophile which he “saw as compensation”.

Judge McKenna said the man’s life of crime was “a matter of personal choice and unconnected to abuse”. He added: “He has come to believe all the adverse effects in his life are attributable to the abuse.

“Whilst that belief may be sincerely held, I have come to a different conclusion.”

The court heard earlier the victim was molested by Hopkins shortly after he joined the Cubs.

David McLeneghan, his counsel, said the abuse became more severe and happened on hundreds of occasions.