A ‘PREDATORY’ paedophile who used his post as a lay Methodist preacher to target young boys has been jailed indefinitely for public protection.
Keith Morton, 43, committed bizarre acts of sexual abuse, dressing one of the boys up in women’s clothes and taking photos of another naked youngster, Stafford Crown Court heard.
Another victim tried to commit suicide by slashing his wrists after sleeping in a set of drawers to try to escape Morton’s clutches.
Over a period of around nine years, Morton, a US national, abused four teenage boys — three of them in Staffordshire.
He made a beeline for the church’s youth groups and used his ‘charm’ and ‘social skills’ to ‘groom children so they would do his bidding’, Judge Mark Eades said.
One of the boys told police that, after becoming responsible for youth activities at a church in the Lichfield area, Morton stripped him naked and dressed him up in women’s clothes. He also bought him silicon breasts and a blond wig for his 14th birthday, tied him to a bed and blindfolded him.
Antonie Muller, prosecuting, said Morton also committed acts of gross sexual indecency with the boy. He was dismissed by the church group when someone saw him touching the boy, but kept up the relationship with him, warning him not to tell anyone as he would lose his job and go to prison.
Another Staffordshire boy described Morton performing a sex act on him while a 15-year-old who said he would wake up to find Morton touching him had tried to slit his wrists.
In Darlington, Morton befriended another teenage boy and went on to perform a sex act on him, leaving the boy feeling ‘sick’.
He also admitted eight charges involving a 14-year-old from Darlington and a 15-year-old from Lichfield including two charges of taking indecent photographs of the 14-year-old and three of sexual activity with him.
In addition, Morton admitted two charges of indecent assault on the 15- year-old and one of gross indecency with him, committed in 2001.
None of the acts of abuse were accompanied by other degrading behaviour or language, nor were they procured by threats.
Morton, formerly of Elm Ridge Church, Carmel Road, Darlington, was sentenced to a minimum four years behind bars before he can apply for parole.
However, he will only be released when he is no longer considered a threat by the parole board.
Judge Eades told him: “As your counsel observes, this is, in effect, a life sentence.
“On any basis you are a persistent, implacable, predatory paedophile.”
