Undated handout photo issued by Sussex Police of Ian Silvester, 60, a former scout leader who has been jailed for 16 years after sexually abusing boys as young as seven over nearly three decades. Ian Silvester was a paedophile hiding in plain sight who befriended young victims and their families through roles including as a diving instructor, St John Ambulance trainer, first aid trainer and babysitter between 1986 and 2013. Issue date: Friday February 7, 2025. (Image: Copyright remains with handout provider)
A former scout leader who was a “paedophile hiding in plain sight” has been jailed for 16 years after sexually abusing boys as young as seven over nearly three decades.
Ian Silvester befriended young victims and their families through roles including as a diving instructor, St John Ambulance trainer, first aid trainer and babysitter between 1986 and 2013.
The 60-year-old of Brighton manipulated the children under the guise of playing an innocent game or taking part in an educational activity for his sexual gratification, prosecutors said.
He was convicted of assaulting 19 boys after a trial at Lewes Crown Court.
Sentencing on Friday, Judge Christine Laing KC told Silvester: “You are the very definition of a paedophile hiding in plain sight.”
The judge said the defendant had given his victims a “lifetime of shame and regret”, telling the court the abuse happened so “openly and plainly and so often in front of others”.
She added: “The fact is, you were in a position of trust with each boy.”
“Either as their babysitter, their cub scout master, their diving coach, a provider of first aid training, claiming to meet them to practice to be victims, and your behaviour was a gross abuse of that trust.”
Silvester was jailed for 16 years, with an additional six years on extended licence.
He was found guilty of 44 counts of indecent assault on a male, 25 counts of sexual activity with a child, four counts of sexual assault, two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13 and two counts of making indecent photos of children.
After he was arrested, indecent images of children and photos and videos of his victims being assaulted by Silvester were found on his devices seized by police from his home.
The judge made an order for the forfeiture and destruction of the material.
Emma Lile, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Ian Silvester’s crimes are particularly disturbing given the various roles he held over many years where he was entrusted with the responsibility of caring for and safeguarding children.”
“He abused these positions in the worst possible way and took advantage of young boys. Silvester tried to claim that what he was doing was innocent, denying that his behaviour was sexually motivated.”