Jurors at Croydon Crown Court took just over two hours yesterday to find a child sex offender guilty of attacking his latest victim.

Michael Carroll, 57, from South Norwood, was trusted by the family of the child, referring to him as “uncle” and having him over for part of Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

And he babysat for them and took them swimming.

But on June 3 last year when Carroll was babysitting he sexually abused one of the boys, who was then aged nine.

Before the boy undressed to take a shower at bedtime he cupped his hand over the boy’s genital area over his trousers.

And then when the child had come out of the shower and was dressed in a onesie Carroll abused him by putting his thumb and finger through a hole in the clothing to touch his penis.

Giving evidence at his trial Carroll denied the assault and said: “I said about this onesie, there were some wear holes and his mum had only just bought them about two weeks ago.

“I said show your mum and she can take them back to the shop and get new ones.”

And speaking about his victim he said: “On a number of occasions he would tell lies and take things from the fridge and leave it for others to get the blame.

“He could be a manipulative little boy.”

But the jury did not buy Carroll’s lies and as well as finding him guilty of sexual assault the jury also found him guilty of two counts of breaching a sexual offences prevention order.

This had been imposed on him at Bromley Magistrates’ Court in November 2004 and means he was not allowed unsupervised contact with children for 15 years and would have regular supervision visits.

He claimed he thought this order was only in force for five years.

During cross examination prosecutor Jeffrey Israel said: “After November 2009 you were still visited 21 times and you were asked are you having contact with sex offenders and you said no.

“You were asked are you having contact with children and you say no.

“That was a lie, wasn’t it?

“You were grooming these boys for sexual assaults weren’t you?”

The court heard details of previous offences dating back almost 30 years including indecently assaulting a boy two days after his 13th birthday in 1987.

And he was sentenced to a year imprisonment in 1998 for fondling the genitals of a six-year-old boy.

Carroll told the court when he was five years old he was abused by some 12 and 13 year old boys but did not want to go into detail.

He has been remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on June 16.


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