A FORMER engineer from Wrexham has been jailed after being found guilty of two counts of assault by touching of a minor.

Andrew Roberts, of Pool Road, Ponciau, was convicted by a jury last month of the two offences.

Appearing before Recorder John Philpotts at Mold Crown Court on Friday, February 25, the 57-year-old former engineer at Airbus was handed a sentence of four-and-a-half years.

Prosecutor Nicholas Williams told the court that, in early 2020, Roberts had "grossly abused the trust placed in him”.

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The court heard that, although Roberts was found guilty by trial last month, he had continued to maintain his innocence.

Defence barrister Simon Mintz said Roberts suffered from mental health difficulties and depression, but accepted he must face time in jail for the "serious offences".

He added there was no obvious evidence of grooming and that both incidents had been "out of the blue".

Both the victim and another family member had been too upset to provide a victim statement to the court.

In his closing remarks, Recorder Philpotts said to Roberts: "Your good character is lost now forever."

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He sentenced him to four-and-a-half years for both counts, to run concurrently.

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order was also placed against him, restricting him from having any unsupervised contact with any child under 16.