A mother whose son was molested by a paedophile who acted as his football ‘coach’ told last night of the devastating effect the abuse has had on her youngster’s life.

The mother-of-three was left horrified when her young son, assaulted when he was ten, was forced to re-live his ordeal during the trial of Neil Watkin, 45, of Danecourt Road, Holme Wood, Bradford.

Watkin was yesterday jailed for two-and-a-half years at Bradford Crown Court. He had been convicted by a jury of sexually assaulting the boy at a trial earlier this month.

The mother of his victim described “every mother’s worst nightmare” when she found out that her son, now aged 12, did not want to go football any more because Watkin had molested him.

“I was distraught and wanted to kill him,” said the boy’s mum, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

“It is every mother’s worst nightmare. My son doesn’t sleep, needs the light on and has to have the dog in his bedroom at night.

“All the doors have to be locked and he has night terrors.

“He wakes up crying and sometimes will not go out of the house. He had to go to court and that was traumatic and he was heartbroken when he came out.

“Just the other day he told me that he isn’t normal because this sort of thing doesn’t happen to normal people. But I tell him he is normal, it is Watkin that isn’t.”

The abuse was revealed after the boy told his mum he did not want to go to football any more. Watkin used to take the youngster and his friends for a kickabout.

Watkin came to the house to convince the youngster to go to football after his mum had called to cancel.

He insisted on speaking to the youngster, but his mum refused.

“I got concerned then and sat my son down and asked him why he didn’t want to go any more,” she said.

“He told me what Watkin had done and I just felt sick. It was awful and I didn’t know what to do. I just screamed. You don’t expect it to happen to you, you think it happens to other people.

“They all used to call him Uncle Neil and he seemed like a genuinely nice bloke.”

The mother said she was happy the ordeal was finally over.

“It has been a nightmare for two years but hopefully now Watkin has been put away my son might start sleeping better at night.”

Sentencing Watkin yesterday, Judge Colin Burn said having to re-live the experience in court had clearly upset the boy considerably.

Judge Burn told Watkin: “You actively sought out the boy by virtue of offering to take him to football, an activity he was clearly very keen on.

“He was very fond of you. It was, no doubt, a bewildering as well as sinister and unpleasant experience.

“You shattered any illusions he had you were going to help him with his football.”

Watkin’s barrister, Sukhbir Bassra, said his client’s sexual conduct only happened once.

But Judge Burn said a custodial sentence was inevitable. He said Watkin had been motivated in the past to place himself in a position of trust with young boys.

He said: “This offence came at the end of similar conduct. It justifies the assessment of risk and makes it more concerning in your case.”

The judge made him the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, barred from working with children and ordered to sign the sex offenders register, all of them indefinitely.