A man was jailed on his 67th birthday for photographing himself sexually abusing a teenage boy and sharing the images with a friend.

John Tatnall, of Ambleside Avenue, Walton, was approached by a 13-year-old boy who was confused about his sexuality in about October 2006.

The court heard that the boy wanted to know what it was like to be sexually active with a man, and Tatnall, known as Jack the rat to friends, obliged.

The teenager wore a skirt, a pair of purple women’s underwear and a glittery top, and posed for photographs.

The victim also performed oral sex on Tatnall, and Tatnall on him, and other sex acts were committed, Guildford Crown Court heard on Friday, May 11.

Defence lawyer Ed Butler said the victim was a willing participant and comfortable with matters, but accepted they were a “desperately unpleasant” series of offences.

Mr Butler told the court: “This was not a case where there is any evidence of coercion, persuasion or manipulation.”

Tatnall then developed the pictures on a home printer and handed them over to his friend, 68-year-old Ronald Remnant, of Sunbury Lane, Walton, as they shared a drink at Walton Working Men’s Club.

The abuse only came to light in July last year when Remnant’s home was raided by police for a matter unrelated to him and officers found the photos in a safe, inside an enveloped marked ‘open in private’.

There were also copies in his bedside drawer.

Remnant said he could not remember who had given them to him, but police managed to trace Tatnall through the victim.

The court heard Remnant did not seek out or request the photographs, admitted he should have got rid of them and said he liked them “a bit more mature”.

Prosecutor Samantha Cohen said: “He said he had given them to Mr Remnant because he’s as bent as a nine bob bit and would therefore like that sort of thing.”

She said later: “Mr Tatnall said he offered them to his friend because he thought as a gay man he’d be interested in photos of child abuse.”

Judge Michael Addison said: “Young people must be protected from this conduct.”

Tatnall was ordered to serve a total of four years’ imprisonment for 15 offences, despite pleas of ill health after a battle with mouth cancer.

Remnant received four months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.

Both were put on the sex offenders register.