A CHILD abuser who used a tree house in which to sexually attack a schoolboy was jailed yesterday for three years and 11 months.

York Crown Court heard how 61-year-old Rodney Lee Moody had been a well respected member of society.

But for nearly two years he secretly cultivated and groomed the teenager for a "path of licentiousness", said Judge Paul Hoffman.

Moody pleaded guilty to six sample charges of indecent assault between October 1999 and September 2001.

Moody, of Osgodby Lane, Scarborough, had a property with a large garden, including a tree house, and it was there he first became tactile towards the schoolboy, said prosecutor David Bradshaw

Things progressed to more serious sexual abuse and it was when the boy became withdrawn that the authorities were alerted.

Jailing Moody, Judge Hoffman said: "On one hand, you are highly spoken of. But the reverse side of the coin shows you cultivating and grooming this boy for purposes of your own lust."

Moody was ordered to sign on the Sex Offender's Register for life.

Tom Bayliss, for Moody, said: "He searches his soul daily to explain why he behaved in such an atrocious way."