PAEDOPHILE John Perkins thought he had got away with abusing a boy until his victim spotted him - more than 20 years later.

The victim was on a shopping trip with his wife when he noticed Perkins and realised he was the monster who attacked him in the Eighties when he was a child. The victim shouted: `Do you remember me? Do you remember what you did to me?'

Then, as Perkins cowered crying in a corner pleading `Don't hurt me, I'm sorry', the victim punched him to the floor.

Police initially arrested the victim for assault, but then detained Perkins after the truth emerged.

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Now, Perkins, 57, of Springbank, New Mills, is starting four-and-a-half years in jail after he pleaded guilty to indecency with a child and indecent assault. Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court was told by Tom Fitzpatrick, prosecuting, that the victim had been abused by Perkins but was too embarrassed to tell anyone.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: "He immediately recognised the defendant. This chance meeting brought back all the memories he had suppressed."

The court heard Perkins had abused the boy then gave him money to buy his silence. The victim later told how he would run home crying after each attack and said the abuse had `broken his heart'.

In a victim impact statement he said the abuse had affected him `quite badly' and he starting drinking at the age of 12.

The court heard that Perkins had been convicted in 1973 of two offences of indecency with a child and three counts of indecent assault on a male under 16. He received a probation order for 12 months. In 1987 he was convicted of common assault on a child. In 2005 he came to the police's attention for kissing a girl and in the same year was cautioned for sexual activity with a male under 13.

Adam Watkins, defending, said: "He has only a limited understanding of quite how wrong his conduct was."

Perkins was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for life and was banned from working with children.

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