A pensioner has been jailed for 10 years after being found guilty of repeatedly molesting a young boy.

William Alfred King, 69, had denied 12 counts of indecent assault, involving a boy under the age of 16, and two serious sexual offence charges spanning a seven-year period in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Prosecutor Roseleen Collins told jurors at Bournemouth Crown Court how King had committed an “appalling and harrowing catalogue of offences” against his young victim.

She added that King had forced his victim, now a man in his 40s who cannot be identified for legal reasons, to carry out “all manner of degrading, humiliating and painful acts”.

Miss Collins told the court how the offences had started when the boy was six or seven and had happened around four or five times a year in the defendant’s bedroom as well as his garden shed in the Parkstone area of Poole.

The complainant told doctors and psychiatrists about how he had been abused as a child and eventually confided in a girlfriend in 2009.

In February 2010 the victim saw a newspaper article reporting that King had been convicted of 15 sex offences against Ian Arnold when he was a young boy in the early to mid 1970s.

Miss Collins said this had given him the “courage to come forward and report his own abuse to the police”.

Jurors heard how King had been convicted in December 2003 of sexually assaulting another young boy.

Mr Arnold, who waived his right to anonymity following King’s conviction in 2010, said yesterday: “He’s shown no care and no remorse. He’s denied everything. This man is an animal.

“He is a dangerous man to society and should never be allowed onto the streets again.

“He hasn’t just destroyed the lives of his victims but he’s also destroyed families.”

Mr Arnold urged anyone who may have suffered at the hands of King to come forward.

“Please, please come forward and speak to the police. It is never too late.”