Pervert who abducted Burnley kids is jailed

A CONVICTED paedophile who abducted two Burnley children as they played out and tried to befriend other youngsters in the same area has been jailed for two years and eight months.

Ex-holiday park worker Patrick Blackie (26) enticed the two eight-year-olds – a boy and a girl – back to his house with a puppy, sweets, talk of his pet fish and an invitation to play on his Xbox and watch football on television.

Once there, he cooked them chicken nuggets and pizza and let them go upstairs.

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The youngsters were missing for about three hours and their mothers had been frantically searching the area for them, Burnley Crown Court heard.

The children were not said to have been molested and Blackie, who police say had also befriended other children in the Padiham Road area, insisted he had not been sexually motivated and trying to groom the pair.

But a judge said it was reasonable to conclude he intended some form of sexual behaviour or sexual gratification.

The defendant was then already on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years, along with his twin brother James. Both had earlier been sent to jail for unconnected child porn offences.

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Patrick Blackie was locked up for 15 months in January last year, after committing a sex act in front of a little boy and having 20 indecent pictures of children on his computer. The defendant, who had been living in Windsor Street, Burnley, when he took the children, admitted two charges of child abduction, on May 28th.

He was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life and was also given a lifelong sexual offences prevention order. Under the order, he is banned from having any unsupervised contact with youngsters under 16 and must not allow any children into his home.

Mr David Macro (prosecuting) said the two victims, who were friends, were climbing a wall around 6 p.m. when the defendant approached them. He had a dog with him and asked them if they wanted to go to his house to play on the Xbox and watch the football. At first they refused but then agreed and went with him.

On the way, he told them about his pet fish and that his name was Patrick. Blackie stopped at a shop and bought some sweets. At his house the victims sat on a sofa in the living room while the defendant tried to mend his Xbox.

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They listened to music and Blackie made them some food. The children then watched football and the defendant offered them sweets. Eventually, the girl pretended she could hear her mother’s voice and told Blackie they had to go. He told them they could visit him any time.

Mr Macro said that around 9-15 p.m. the children’s mothers, who had been looking in parks and subways for them, saw them walking home. The defendant was arrested the day after and said he had come out of prison in April last year, was on probation until September 21st and had not done any sex offenders’ treatment.

He claimed the eight-year-olds had just come along with him to his home and he had not particularly invited them. Blackie said he had not been grooming the children for sex.

The prosecutor said police spoke to a number of parents in the area and were told he had befriended other children who had also been to his house.

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The sentencing hearing in January last year, for Blackie’s earlier offences, had been told how the defendant was caught out over the sex act in front of the little boy years later, after he sent drunken texts to a friend. He had sent a young woman messages claiming he had had sexual contact with four young boys who lived in Blackburn.

Months earlier, Blackie, formerly of Great Harwood, was said to have emailed a former fellow college student, telling him he liked children and had had a relationship with an eight-year-old girl.

Police seized a computer Blackie used and on it were indecent photos of boys, one of them a video clip at level four – next to the most serious level.

Mr James Heyworth (defending) said he did not have an extensive history of sexual offending. He said he could have exploited the opportunity to have sexual contact with the children, but did not.

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Sentencing Blackie, who had been on remand 121 days, Judge Beverly Lunt said there was insufficient evidence to say he was a dangerous offender in law. She told the defendant: “You did not cause any ham to these children. However, there must be a substantial sentence of imprisonment and you know it.”

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