A FORMER Cwmbran icecream man who abused a boy in the 1970s has been jailed for 20 months.

Leonard Bristow, 75, currently of Edgware, Middlesex, but formerly of Cwmbran, admitted eight out of 17 specimen counts of indecent assault against a child, dating from 1977 to 1980, at a hearing on January 29 this year.

Bristow touched and systematically abused the boy, said John Warren, prosecuting at Cardiff Crown Court yesterday.

In a statement, the victim, who reported the offences to police in August 2011, said it had a profound effect on his life, and he could no longer sleep without the radio on as the offences were committed while the defendant listened to Radio Luxembourg.

“I felt it was my fault, I felt dirty and embarrassed,” he said.

“The incidents have always been in my mind and have stuck with me. It is sometimes on the TV and it brings everything to my mind.

“It ruined my life,” he said.

Police tracked down Bristow and he was interviewed on February 8, 2012, said Mr Warren, in which he initially denied the offences.

The court heard Bristow was convicted in 1990 of indecently assaulting another boy in his van, for which he was fined £200.

John Hunter, mitigating, said Bristow, now partially sighted after a stroke and receiving disability allowance, had been abused himself as an evacuee during the war.

“He has always lived, aside from his sexual orientation, a genuine and good life,” said Mr Hunter.

“He is a hard-working man.

Ninety per cent of his family has ostracised him, it is a great tragedy all round.”

Judge Philip Richards sentenced Bristow to 20 months in jail, as well as making him subject to a notification requirement upon his release, a sexual offences prevention order and disqualifying him from working with children indefinitely.

The remaining charges are to lie on the court file.