A CAVE rescue stalwart has been jailed at the age of 84 for sexually abusing two young boys in the 1950s and 1970s.

A judge heard last Thursday how one of Brian Boardman’s victims wasn’t believed when he told senior caving club members about the abuse at the time and when he initially made a complaint to the police a decade ago a decision was made then to take no action.

Prosecutor Tom Storey told Bradford Crown Court that it was not until a second victim reported allegations to police last year that the initial complaint was resurrected.

Former Burnley Caving Club member Boardman, of Giggleswick, North Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to two charges of gross indecency with a male under 16 dating back to the 1950s and further allegations of indecent assault and indecency with a child under 14 which took place in the early 1970s.

Last week, Boardman was sentenced to a total of three years in prison for the abuse dating back more than half a century.

Boardman carried out the sexual assaults during his time with the Burnley Caving Club between 1958 and 1960 and the Cave Rescue Organisation in 1971.

Mr Storey told the court how Boardman was in his mid-twenties when he began abusing a teenage boy who he had taken on caving trips in the region.

The first incident happened during a trip to the Settle area when Boardman asked the boy, who cannot be identified, to perform a sex act on him as they changed into their caving outfits.

The complainant, who is now in his 70s, alleged that the abuse became a regular occurrence and in his victim impact statement he said the offending had been with him all these years and would never leave him.

He said he hoped that he would now get some closure and peace of mind.

Boardman’s second victim was sexually abused by the defendant while the boy was showering under a waterfall.

“Over the course of 84 years, these offences notwithstanding, he has done a great deal of work in the community,” said his barrister Robin Frieze.

He said Boardman, who is in poor health, had been very much part of his local community, but he was was now isolated.

Jailing Boardman Recorder Jeremy Hill-Baker said:”What you did all those years ago was to take advantage of your position as an able and charismatic caver to get younger boys in that pursuit and to take advantage of them.

“You have spent decades as an unconvicted man respected by the community. Each of them (your victims) has had to bear the emotional scars of what you did to them.

“Nobody wants to send to prison a man of 84 in ill health, but I’m afraid I cannot avoid it much as though I would like to do so.

“You have done a lot of good work in cave rescue and you are respected, or were, in the community, but nonetheless what you did was awful.”

Boardman, who had received an award for his 50 years of service in cave rescue, will now have to register as a sex offender with the police.

DC Kirsty Graham, of North Yorkshire Police, who led the investigation said: “Brian Boardman used his knowledge of caving to offer the young boys to go on trips during which he abused them.

“One of the victims came forward in 2008 but, sadly, there was not enough evidence to prosecute at that time.

“Then subsequently, in 2017, a completely separate complaint was received from a different victim, a different time period and location, but the details of the abuse were startlingly similar.

“The original victim was re-contacted and both cases were taken to the Crown Prosecution Service and we were finally able to bring charges against the offender.”

DC Graham added: “The victims of Boardman’s offences have waited decades to receive justice. Both admit that the abuse they suffered as children has damaged them in later life.

“I thank them for their bravery in coming forward and I hope they will now finally be able to begin putting this terrible experience behind them.”