'Deeply manipulative' Gosport paedophile who inflicted 'horrific' memories on victims is jailed

Relentless predator Alexander Norman, 71, groomed two boys and their families before betraying their trust so he could have his wicked way.

Norman, a trusted member of the Gosport community with his sports coaching, engineered opportunities to inflict abuse on his victims, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.

The warped child offender offered massages to a boy after football before his creeping hands strayed on to the boy’s genitalia which he rubbed after removing the child’s underwear.

Sick Norman would then lie naked next to the boy and perform a sex act on himself.

The victim said there were about 20 occasions of such harrowing incidents.

The court heard arrogant Norman’s behaviour had also brainwashed the victim during his campaign of abuse between 2015-17. ‘At no time did the defendant tell him to keep it a secret. (The complainant) put it down as (Norman) normalising things,’ prosecutor Martyn Booth said.

Norman’s past also caught up with him after he was brought to justice for indecently assaulting another boy around 20 years ago.

‘He would kiss him in inappropriate moments and hold his hand when the situation did not merit it. Cuddling would take place in classrooms or in his car and other places,’ Mr Booth said.

‘(The boy) did not realise it was illegal when he was a child but realised it was wholly inappropriate when an adult.

‘The defendant gained the trust of the parents due to his perceived standing in the community. He was seen as trustworthy.’

This allowed Norman, of Southampton Road, Fareham, to take the boy ‘unoccupied’ to swimming lessons where he would make sexual remarks and ensure they were both naked in the changing rooms so he could ensure ‘close contact’.

Speaking of the impact, the victim of the more serious assaults said Norman had made him feel ‘safe’ before the paedophile’s dark ulterior intentions reared their ugly head.

The victim said he had to ‘give up’ all sport he used to do because they reminded him of Norman. ‘Every time I tried to do them I just couldn’t cope with the emotional memories and hurt that comes flooding back,’ he said in a statement read out to court.

‘What has happened has had a significant emotional and physical impact on my life in many ways.’

The victim added: ‘I realised how manipulated I was. What he has done has caused horrific memories that I have to live with for the rest of my life,’ he added.

The court heard Norman was previously sentenced on two separate occasions for different child sex incidents for a total of around six and a half years over four years ago.

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Norman admitted four counts of indecent assault on a boy, two charges of sexual assault on a boy under 13 and two counts of adult sexual activity with a boy with no penetration.

Judge Richard Shepherd locked up Norman for 52 months and said: ‘Over many years you have abused a number of victims and established a pattern of someone who is deeply manipulative.

‘You groomed these young people and their families in order to sexually abuse these children.’