A MAN who sexually assaulted a boy in Blackburn after persuading him to get into his car has been jailed for four years.

Preston Crown Court heard that Robert Saxon took his victim to a car park where he molested him.

A judge passing sentence on the 35-year-old made a number of orders - one of them barring Saxon from associating or communicating with anyone under the age of 16, without reasonable excuse.

He also banned him from allowing anyone under 16 to enter his home and barred him from entering or going near public toilets in Preston.

Saxon, of Samuel Street, Preston, had pleaded guilty to offences of indecent assault and inciting gross indecency, relating to events in June last year.

The court heard that the offences were committed on a vulnerable 16-year-old. The boy did not have any money at the time to make a phone call and had approached a woman in the street to ask for money, but she rebuffed him.

The defendant caught his attention and persuaded him, on the offer of money, to get into his car.

The boy was frightened, but took Saxon's registration number and gave it to police.

The court was told he had pleaded guilty and thus spared the victim having to give evidence.

The defendant had a previous conviction for a similar type of offence. In January, 1999, he was given two years probation.

Judge Robert Brown passed a four-year prison term, and Saxon was placed on the sex offenders' register for an indefinite period.