A FORMER football and rugby coach who used his position to prey on young boys has been jailed for a string of sexual offences.

Michael Hunter, 32, of Westborne Avenue, Leigh, was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and voyeurism.

He was also given a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

The court heard how Hunter, a former football and rugby coach, used his position to prey on young boys, his youngest victim being 10 years old.

Hunter pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a teenage boy that he met as a football coach in 2009. At the time Hunter was given an FA banning order from coaching for inappropriate behaviour as neither police, the FA nor those around him, knew the full extent of his actions until it was fully reported to police some years later.

Although banned from coaching, Hunter tried several times to work with sports clubs again.

He made excuses when asked to provide the appropriate information for background checks. When he ran out of excuses he would move on to another club.

Hunter also used social media and sent messages and naked photos of himself to a 13-year-old boy, the boy’s father monitored his young son’s social media accounts and quickly saw the picture and reported it to police.

This investigation led police to Hunter and when searching his phone and computers a video was found of a 10-year-old boy showering at his house.

Though Hunter initially denied that he had anything to do with the video, he had started filming as he set the device up, so the video clearly showed his face and his actions as he hid it in a towel so not to be noticed.

PC Louise Dunne from GMP’s Child Sexual Exploitation Team said: “Michael Hunter preyed on young boys and used his position of trust to get access to them.

“He is a danger to children and is quite rightly going to spend the next seven years and four months behind bars.

“Hunter knew that the boys were under age and he didn’t care, he chose to use them for his own sexual gratification instead of thinking about the physical and emotional abuse he was inflicting on them.

“The victims and their families have been incredibly brave in helping police with this investigation and I can only hope that today’s sentence will provide them with some closure”

Anyone who believes they have been a victim of a sexual offence should call police immediately on 101.

For information about child sexual exploitation visit itsnotokay.co.uk