A former Conservative councillor groomed a teenager with gifts and trips to Liverpool and then repeatedly sexually abused him.
David Smith, an ex-Middlesbrough councillor, was found guilty 11 counts of inciting, or engaging in sexual activity with a child, over a decade ago. Smith's two victims were teenage boys at the time he targeted them, reports TeesideLive.
One boy was sexually assaulted and groomed by Smith over a four-year period and the court heard how this had "traumatised" him. The victim's former girlfriend said what happened had "destroyed their relationship".
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The court heard how Smith gave the boy cash and bought him gifts; as well as taking him on trips to Edinburgh and to Liverpool. The victim said: “He used to buy me all sorts - he must have spent £6,000 to £10,000 on me easy.
"It was clothes, it was drugs, I used to smoke cannabis a lot and he used to buy me it. He used to buy me it every day, at least £20 a day. After I smoked it I would just go to sleep and when I woke up, he would be touching me.”
Smith repeatedly exposed himself to the second victim - who was also a teenage boy at the time - before trying to persuade him to perform a sex act. The victim said he fled, telling the court: "He would flash me and as a kid I was shocked and didn't know where to put myself.
"After a month and a half, it went from flashing at me to him asking me to touch him. It got to the point where he was getting closer to me and got more insistent."
Smith, 33, of Rainsford Crescent in Middlesbrough, was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on May 16.
