A RETIRED airman whose abuse of a child went undetected for almost half a century has finally been brought to justice.

Leonard Goddard, now 82, told his young victim in the 1960s: "Don't tell anyone about this . . . it's our little secret."

Details of the abuse emerged last year, and Goddard confessed, said prosecutor Christopher Dunn at Teesside Crown Court.

The seriously-ill pensioner, from Middlesbrough, told police: "I'm a miserable bugger, and what I did was very wrong."

Goddard, of Cookgate, Nunthorpe, admitted six charges of indecent assault, and was given a 21-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC, said he did not think it was in the public interest to send him immediately to jail.

"Uppermost in my mind is your present state of health," the judge told Goddard yesterday. "You are essentially bed-ridden.

"I have to ask myself, in all the circumstances, is it necessary for the public at large to impose a term of imprisonment."

The elderly defendant requires almost 24-hour care, is in a care home and needs a wheelchair and walking frame to get about.

The court heard that he suffers from chronic obstructive airways disease, heart failure, diabetes and hypertension.

Judge Bourne-Arton described the abuse - while Goddard was stationed at RAF Leeming, in North Yorkshire, as "dreadful".

He said: "You put that behind you and carried on with your life, and it was a good life, in which you served your country.

He added that his victim has tried to move on from the abusive events of the past, but has been unable to - and has been "living with the cloud of what happened" as a child.

In a statement, the complainant told of the "devastating" impact the ordeal has had on their life and relationships.

Robert Mochrie, mitigating, said Goodard was a man of otherwise good character, but admitted the abuse was "grotesque".

He said: "The only thing that can be said is no other victims have been located or come forward since the revelations.

"That's no comfort, of course, for his victim, but he appears to have left that distasteful period in his life behind."