Men boasted of burying bodies

Jay Stewart was convicted of a total of 27 charges - including the rape of two boys - following a three week Preston Crown Court trial.

He and another man - Adam Patfield, 23, of Enfield Road, Blackpool - were also found guilty of intimidating one of the males, a charge they had both denied.

They threatened to kill him if he went to the police and said that his murder would be filmed.

The pair were said to have spoken of having killed in the past - and boasted about burying bodies at Beacon Fell, close to Garstang.

Stewart, 54, of Bibby Drive, Staining, and Patfield now face sentencing next month at Burnley Crown Court on March 7.

Stewart had denied a total of 37 charges.

He was found not guilty of 10 of the charges, which included one allegation of raping a third boy.

Judge Graham Knowles said: “You have been convicted of a series of extremely grave offences and there is no doubt you will be spending a very long time indeed in prison, by way of punishment for what you have done.

“Among the things I have to decide is how dangerous you are and what type of sentence I should impose, not simply what the length that sentence should be”.

Stewart and Patfield were said to have warned one victim that if he went to the police he would be killed along with his family and that his murder would be filmed.

The prosecution described Stewart as a sexual predator who had targeted four boys over a number of years. Stewart claimed in evidence that he had no interest in young boys and was not homosexual.

Patfield said he had viewed Stewart as a father figure and that no sex offences had occurred.

The jury considered their verdicts for more than 10 hours.