'Jail beauty spot pervert'
THIS is the tranquil scene where a 16-year-old boy was robbed of his innocence in a late-night sex attack.
Predator Mathew McGruer, 22, had joined a group of young boys during a camping trip on the banks of the River Dove in Tutbury.
But McGruer, dubbed the ‘Pied Piper’ because of his association with children, assaulted the boy as he slept inside a tent.
The fiend has now been ordered to register as a sex offender, but his victim’s mother today calls for McGruer to be thrown behind bars.
In an exclusive interview with the Mail, the distraught parent tells how the attack has drastically affected the lives of her son and her family.
She said: “My son is still living with this while the offender is walking the streets.”
‘They were just children. He should have gone to prison . . .’
THE mother of a sexual assault victim today breaks her silence, saying: “Why isn’t my son’s attacker behind bars?”
The heartbroken mother spoke out after ‘Pied Piper’ sex offender Mathew McGruer was convicted of the late-night assault of her 16-year-old boy.
The helpless victim woke to find himself being sexually assaulted by McGruer inside a tent on the banks of the River Dove in Tutbury — in the shadow of the village’s historic castle.
The boy’s mother spoke out after McGruer, 22, joined her son and a group of other youths on a school holiday camping trip, where the fiend committed his vile crime.
The mother told of the hell which almost tore her family apart as her son, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was forced to relive his ordeal in the courtroom.
The boy was mercilessly teased by other children after he reported the crime but was brave enough to take to the witness box at Stafford Crown Court.
Train cleaner McGruer, of Duke Street, Tutbury, turned up on the trip uninvited and, according to the mother, tried to ply the youngsters with cigarettes and alcohol.
“It was big group that had gone camping,” she told the Mail.
“There were some who were as young as 13 or 14 and at least six of them were called to give evidence at the trial.”
The mother described how her son fled the tent in fear when he was assaulted.
He managed to type a help message into his mobile phone and pass it to a friend who was also outside the tent.
The boy was ordered back into the tent by sick McGruer after he panicked and fled in the small hours of the morning.
“I got a text from my son during the night saying ‘some of the group want to use the toilet so can we come home?’,” his mother said.
“I thought it was a bit cheeky but, unbeknown to me, something terrible had happened.
“It was not until I had got home from work the following day that he told me what had happened.
“He just broke down. I told him with minimal pressure that he had to report it but with time he became angrier and angrier.”
The distraught mother watched helplessly as her son’s life went off the rails.
“He was smoking,” she said. “He started going out and coming back late at night. It was terrible.
“He has always been a popular lad but this really badly affected him.
“Children are very cruel and often don’t know how to handle situations so my son was called ‘gay’ in the street.
“He still will not go down to the shop on his own.”
The mother claimed her son and McGruer had met by chance in the street before the sex offender was convicted.
“Mathew asked my son ‘do you think I would do something like that?’ in the middle of the street,” she said. “I wanted to kill him.
“The police referred to him as the ‘Pied Piper’ because he hung around with children.
“He used to buy cigarettes and alcohol for them.
“I think he is dangerous.”
But the boy’s mother said the greatest resentment she felt was that McGruer was still walking the streets.
“When we got the guilty verdict there was a strong belief he should have gone to prison,” she said. “He should be behind bars now, but instead he is free.
“If we ever saw him it would push the whole ordeal back to the front of our minds.
“But we have to be content that we have a guilty verdict. If he had got off then we would have gone through all this for nothing.
“But I wanted him to go to prison. They were all children involved and it was an ordeal for all their families too, as well as mine.”
The mother told how she tried to prepare her son for his day in the witness box by taking him on a trip to watch a real courtroom and buying films which explained the legal process.
“We have never had anything to do with the courts before,” she said.
“There was nothing worse than seeing him in the witness care room before he went into the dock.
“He was biting his fingers off.
“In a nutshell, he was a young boy on a camping trip whose life was about to dramatically change.”
The mother of two hopes she and her two children can now begin rebuilding the lives.
The victim has enrolled at college and he, with the love and support of those around him, is hoping for a rosier future as he tries to move on from a dark past.
GUILTY — PERVERT PUT ON SEX REGISTER
MATHEW McGruer, 22, of Duke Street, Tutbury, was convicted of sexually assaulting a male after a lengthy trial at Stafford Crown Court.
Many children were called to testify after McGruer denied the offence and insisted on a full trial.
His victim was forced to relive his torment in court and sit behind a screen while he was crossexamined by barristers.
A jury found McGruer guilty and he was placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years and handed a three-year community order.
McGruer will be supervised by probation workers for the three years and he must complete a community sex offender group programme.
The sickening crime was committed in Tutbury on April 12 last year.
McGruer describes himself on his Facebook page as a train cleaner working for Bombardier Transportation and a former pupil of the de Ferrers Academy in Horninglow.
