THE driver of the bin lorry which crushed and killed a Worcester pensioner in the Shambles was jailed for raping a child in a disturbing case heard a year ago.

Nathan Beauchamp, then aged 41, was jailed for 12 years in January last year in a case which shocked readers in Worcester. The paedophile was found guilty of raping the boy three times between January 21, 2018 and January 20, 2019.

He was also found guilty of having sexual activity with a second boy aged nine and 10 between the same dates.

However, he was acquitted of a further charge of raping a child under 13 in a hot tub. Beauchamp, of Elsdon, Kempsey, near Worcester, was the driver of the lorry which killed Sylvia Russell, aged 69, in September 2014. He was cleared of causing her death by careless or inconsiderate driving in 2016.

Beauchamp had denied all the sexual offences, which allegedly took place in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, but a jury found him guilty of four of them after a four-day trial at Gloucester Crown Court.

Prosecutor Anna Midgley told the jury that Beauchamp occasionally took care of the boys after school and his role "developed from being a child minder to being a mentor.

“The boys liked being looked after by Beauchamp as he had a hot tub in the back garden.

“But over time it is alleged that he took the elder boy into the bedroom and raped him.

“The 12-year-old later told the police that it occasionally happened in the bathroom and once in the hot tub.

“And on another occasion in the hot tub he is alleged to have sexually assaulted a younger boy aged between nine and ten.”

The court heard that the authorities became involved when the older boy got upset at school in June this year and told a teacher that he had been raped by Beauchamp.

The teacher immediately informed the relevant bodies and Beauchamp was arrested. The prosecutor added that the abuse has had a psychological effect on the older boy and there are signs he is becoming sexually deviant.

Sophie Murray, defending, said that prior to offences Beauchamp had a happy family life.

Judge Michael Cullum said to Beauchamp: “You have been convicted of some of the most serious offences it is possible to commit - the rape of a young child.

“The lad was clearly fond of you and your wife by the way he enjoyed coming to your house and being around your family.

“You were entrusted with a degree of responsibility of parenting by being something of a father figure to him, until you abused him.

“You are openly bi-sexual and looked at pornographic sites and concentrated on looking for young males. However, you did not look for images of children.

“You created the scenario to act out your fantasies when no one else was around and rape him. As we’ve heard you did this repeatedly.

“You repeatedly took the older boy into the bedroom for ‘punishment’ and subjected him to anal sex.

“You took the opportunity to build on the trust between you to groom this boy, even though you may not have gone looking for it.

“There is no real evidence of physical harm to the older boy, but a 12-year-old who has been raped and having to go through the humiliating process of telling his school, his mother, grandmother, the police, a jury and a judge, he is bound to suffer psychological harm.

“Luckily he was brave enough to tell all those people and there is a question of your abuse having altered his sexual compass.

“This is why the sentence is very harsh.”

Judge Cullum jailed Beauchamp for 12 years and made him subject to an extended sentence by ordering an additional year on parole licence after his release.

The judge ordered that he sign the sex offenders register for life and imposed a sexual harm prevention order, also for life.

Beauchamp was found not guilty of causing the death of Mrs Russell at Hereford Crown Court after a five day trial.

He was living in Churchill Grove, Tewkesbury, at the time and was driving a Smith’s Waste Management refuse truck.