A FORMER chef at Wrexham Football Club who subjected a teenage footballer and another teenager to sex attacks has been told he was being brought to book for his “depraved behaviour”.

Ieuan Jones, jailed for four-and-a-half years, was told he had committed a serious breach of trust when he targeted one of his 16-year-old victims who had been placed in digs at his home in the late 1990s.

Jones had denied the two allegations of indecent assault which were committed between 1998 and 2004, but he was convicted by a Mold Crown Court jury who heard how he had performed oral sex on one victim.

He groomed his second by plying him with cannabis and drink after he invited him back to his home where he touched him sexually.

Both victims, the court was told, had struggled to cope with what Jones had done to them as teenagers.

One of them read out a victim impact statement in which he detailed how Jones’ abuse had deterred him from taking up a football scholarship in the United States and ultimately his interest in pursuing a career in the professional game.

He said his own relationships had been affected by his experience during his time at Wrexham where he had been signed on as a trainee.

“He made me fall out of love with football," he said.

"When my parents found out what happened my dad was raging and wanted to drive to his house, but he kept quiet for the sake of me wanting to be a footballer."

The former Wrexham junior said he was prompted to report Jones’ behaviour 20 years later after the case of serial paedophile Barry Bennell, the former Crewe Alex youth coach, hit the headlines.

“It brought all the old feelings back and I was so appalled that this was happening before things happened to me.

"A friend sent me a text and he had been listening to the things about Crewe and was thinking about me.

"I felt the weight of the world was on my shoulders, but that was when I made the decision to come forward and report it,” he added.

The court heard that former Chorley publican Jones, 67, now of Chorley Street, Adlington in Lancashire, was suffering ill health.

He had joined Wrexham AFC at the Colliers Park training ground in around 1997 and used to prepared breakfasts and lunches for players and officials as well as working on match days.

He was asked on an informal basis if he would look after some of the youngsters who trialled with the club.

Defence barrister Trevor Parry-Jones said: “He [Jones] presents as a rather pathetic individual.

"He is unfit, his hearing is not good and he is about to lose his house.”

Judge Rowlands added: “These offences were committed against young boys who were 16 at the time.

"The victims are grown men in their 30s now but continue to suffer as a result of what you did to them back then."

Jones was ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for life.