A pot-bellied paedophile who showed ‘not one iota of remorse’ blinked in shock as he was caged for 15 years.

Dad-of-two Martin Holmes, 36, was more than twice his victim’s age when he began abusing his nine-year-old victim in the mid-2000s.

The abuse, which began with the then teenager touching his younger victim, escalated until the boy was in his mid-teens.

READ MORE: Victim and his supporters cry out as paedophile found guilty of 14 charges

Holmes had denied molesting the boy but was found guilty last month of 14 offences, including sexual assault of a child under-13 by penetration and sexual activity with a child.

Jailing him for 15 years at Oxford Crown Court on Friday afternoon, Judge Michael Gledhill QC told the bespectacled defendant: “You have denied the offences from the moment you were confronted with them until this very day.

“You do not accept that you’ve done anything wrong. You do not accept you’ve committed any criminal offences let alone sexually abusing this boy over these years.

“You say he is a complete liar and has made this all up.

“You’ve shown not one iota of remorse for what you did.”

In March, jurors at Oxford Crown Court heard how Holmes, who was said to have been bullied at school, struck up a friendship with his victim after befriending the boy’s parents in the south Oxfordshire village where they lived.

Prosecutor Laura Blackband told the jury that Holmes ‘singled out’ his victim and groomed him. He was accused of ‘experimenting’ on the boy, using him as a ‘sexual outlet’.

The offending stopped when the defendant moved away from the area. The victim tried to bury what happened but spoke to his mother and then girlfriend about his seven-year ordeal after Holmes got in touch with the man’s father via social media to ask about a car for sale.

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Lawrence Henderson, mitigating on Friday afternoon, reminded the judge that his client had no previous convictions and had two children of his own.

He asked that Holmes was given a sentence that would provide ‘light at the end of the proverbial tunnel’.

Sending him to prison, Judge Gledhill said Holmes had been regarded as ‘something of an oddball’ by his contemporaries in the village.

“The fact you were bullied at school is absolutely no excuse for what you did, but may indicate the sort of inadequate man in some respects that you are,” he said.

Turning to the victim’s family, who packed the public gallery for the sentencing hearing, Judge Gledhill said: “I see his parents and his family in court, no doubt blaming themselves for not doing what they now realise they ought to have done because they trusted you.

“They are not to be blamed for that. They didn’t commit these offences. They just trusted you and you have breached their trust as well as that of your so-called friend, the victim.”

Holmes, of Bluebell Avenue, Peterborough, will serve half of his 15 year sentence before he is eligible for release. A restraining order prevents him from contacting his victim’s family and he will be a sex offender for life.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward