A predatory paedophile who abducted and sexually assaulted a ten-year-old boy has been jailed indefinitely after it emerged he had committed an identical crime 30 years ago.
Michael Jackson, 50 – who changed his name to the late pop star to impress his former wife – snatched the lad near his home before he tied him up, gagged and stripped him and threatened to kill him in November last year.
He was given an indeterminate sentence after pleading guilty to kidnap, false imprisonment, sexual assault offences and child abduction at an earlier hearing.
Jailing Jackson at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Judge Martin Walsh ordered that he must serve at least seven years before he is eligible for parole.
He told Jackson: “The facts of this case are truly horrific and are the stuff of every parent’s nightmare.
“It is simply impossible to imagine the sheer terror experienced by that young child as a result of your actions.
“You are, in my judgement, a dangerous predatory paedophile.
“I’m satisfied that you pose a significant risk of serious harm to children and that an indeterminate sentence is necessary for the protection of the public.
“I’m satisfied that had he not escaped, this young boy would have been subjected to serious sexual assaults or worse.”
Jackson snatched the boy as he walked to the shops near his home in Oldbury, West Mids., at 8.30am on November 13 last year.
Three days earlier Jackson had tried to kidnap the lad and even chased him before the boy managed to get away.
During a three-hour-and-a-half hour ordeal Jackson tied the terrified boy up with rope and duct tape before stripping him naked.
Debi Gould, prosecuting, said: “He [Jackson] said ‘don’t bother screaming or you’re dead.’
“He told the boy he would never see his mother and father again.
“The prosecution say that the defendant is a dangerous and predatory paedophile who has a sexual interest in pre-pubescent children of either sex.
“The second of the children that was abducted – a young boy – was trussed up, was thrust into a cupboard, and was sexually assaulted.
“Nobody can imagine the terror of such an experience for such a little boy.
“The boy remembered that there was wrapping paper, Christmas foil on the window and a picture of an angel.
“The room was also decorated with a poster for Disney’s ‘Hunchback of Notré Dame’.”
As dozens of local residents searched for the lad, Jackson stuffed the boy into an airing cupboard before heading to a friend’s house to create an alibi.
The court heard the boy managed to kick his way out of the cupboard and attract the attention of a family friend who was passing Jackson’s ground floor flat in the town.
Reading a victim impact statement from the boy’s mother, Miss Gould said: “I feel like our lives have been turned upside down.
“We all feel like we can’t trust anyone any more.
“I feel like we are all being punished for something but I don’t know what.”
Jackson was also jailed for four years for abducting an 10-year-old girl on September 14, 2011 under the pretence of playing a game of ‘Cops and Robbers’.
He was also caged for five years for sexually assaulting the boy.
The sentences will run concurrently and he was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
Shockingly, it was also revealed that Jackson was caged for 30 months in 1983 after an almost identical assault on a 13-year-old girl.
On that occasion Jackson, then aged 20, grabbed the girl from behind in a lift and held a knife to her throat.
He then dragged her back to his flat and bound her hands and feet before he subjected her to a sexual assault.
He was handed a 30-month sentence at Stafford Crown Court for the kidnap and indecent assault.
Two years earlier he was also slapped with a probation order for yet another deprived indecent assault.
Speaking about his string of sexual crimes, Judge Walsh said: “She was abducted at knife point and taken into your flat where she was then bound and gagged before being told to undress and subjected to a serious sexual assault by you.
“You would have been 20 years old at the time.
“It is significant in the context of the matters with which we are dealing today.”
After passing sentence, Judge Walsh said that there was a possibility Jackson, of Oldbury, West Mids., would never be released.
He told Jackson: “I want to stress that this does not mean that you will be released after serving this term.
“You will only be released if the parole board are satisfied that you no longer pose a serious risk to children.
“It is likely to be very many years, if ever, before you are released back in to the community.”
Jobless Jackson, who was born Albert English, changed his name to Michael Jackson to copy the late pop star in order to impress his former wife.
Jackson, who was claiming income support and disability allowance was living in housing association accommodation just round the corner from an infant school at the time of the offences.
After he was arrested locals staged angry protests calling for the closure of the flats.
They have since been sold off to another housing association.
Speaking after the case, Emma Garnett, Senior Crown Prosecutor from West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Michael Jackson is a dangerous man who preyed on young children for his own gratification.”
A minimum of 7 years is no where near enough.
First of all this guy is a sicko in many ways, changes his name to another sex offender, like attracts like, not only that he said it was to impress his wife, are you kidding me?????????????
really, she is impressed by that then something is definitely wrong with her also. Impressed by 2 sex offenders, I wonder if she allows her children to manipulated if it came down to meeting sex offender MJ
why does this guy keep getting out, leave him in prison and suffer