January 2012

Former Runcorn man jailed after threatening abuse victim’s baby son

A boys’ football coach has been jailed for three years after he raped and sexually abused a six-year-old boy and sent him a sick text message, nearly two decades later.

Steven Falls, 35, formerly Steve Porter, of Stonelea, Windmill Hill, Runcorn, congratulated his victim on becoming a dad, saying he longed to get his hands on his baby, a jury heard.

The menancing text prompted the 25-year-old year abuse victim to report his childhood ordeal to the police.

Detectives discovered the defendant had changed his surname by deed poll from Porter to Falls.

Falls, from Jubilee Road, West Bromwich, was convicted of two offences of buggery and three of indecent assault, at Guildford Crown Court on December 16, 2010, after denying all charges.

He lived in Runcorn from 2005 to 2008.

Judge Christopher Critchlow said the sex attacks had had a lasting impact on the victim.

“It has affected his life,” he said.

Judge Critchlow said that the maximum sentence for buggery was life imprisonment and for indecent assaults 10 years in jail.

He said he could pass a much lower prison term in Falls’s case because the events happened so long ago and the defendant was only 16.

He warned Falls, “Had these offences been committed now, they would all have been charged as rape.”

Falls was put on The Sex Offenders Registers and banned from working with children.

Falls’ victim, now married, kept his suffering a secret for nearly 20 years until he feared his baby son was in danger from the same man.

He alerted the police after receiving a text message from Falls congratulating him on the birth of his baby son, adding: “I can’t wait to get my hands on him.”

He said he was worried when he learned that Falls was running a boys’ soccer team.

Adrienne Knight, defending, said drugs had led Falls into crime but he had since turned his life around.

He changed his name because he didn’t want his partner and children associated with these criminal proceedings.