A FORMER RAF corporal and scout master has been jailed at a court martial for three years for the sexual abuse of a boy scout more than 30 years ago in Germany.

Richard Philpotts, who was previously based at RAF Honington in Suffolk, was sentenced at Portsmouth Naval Base for a single offence of indecent assault.

He was found guilty at trial at the Colchester Military Court Centre in Essex in December.

Judge Avocate Robert Hill told the court that the 62-year-old had abused the boy, who was aged about 13, some time between 1986 and 1987 at a military base in Germany.

He said the youngster had gone to lie down after becoming unwell and the defendant had gone into the teenager's room and sexually assaulted him before being disturbed by one of the other boys.

Philpotts, who served 24 years before retiring from the RAF in 1995 and who had earned the General Service Medal for Northern Ireland, was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and made subject to a sexual offences prevention order.

Judge Hill told him: "This happened when you were in a position of trust - you were a scout master."

The victim said in a statement read to the court: "I felt I could not get into a relationship, I questioned my sexuality and asked 'Did I lead him on? Was it my fault in some way?"

He added: "I still feel what he did was wrong; when I look back I feel I was put through a type of grooming."