A Winchester man is today behind bars after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy who had gone to his house to do some gardening.

Alan Green was branded a danger to children after jurors unanimously found him guilty of sexually assaulting the youth at his Stanmore home last summer.

Green (40) was also found guilty of sexual activity with the same youngster, though cleared of one further charge of sexual activity with another boy of 14.

Jurors then heard that it wasn't the first time that Green had been convicted of such charges. In 1992, he was found guilty of kidnapping and indecently assaulting another teenage boy.

In the latest attacks, Winchester Crown Court heard how, last July, the two boys had gone to Green's house, in Stuart Crescent, to do some gardening for him.

Giving evidence via a televised link, one of the youngsters, who can't be named for legal reasons, described how, after they had finished, Green invited them in for a drink and to watch a movie.

The teenager told how Green had plied them with alcohol and said they could put their feet up on the table. As they did so, the boy said Green then grabbed the first boy's trousers and underwear and pulled them down.

The lad got up and ran off, but as he did so, Green turned to the second youth and did the same thing before sexually assaulting him. The first boy then returned and helped free the other child and both ran out of the house.

Friends described how when the boys arrived at a local skate park, next to the Carroll Youth Centre, some 15 minutes after the attack, they were both clearly very distressed.

One girl said the assaulted boy just sat under one of the skate ramps, rocking back and forth, whimpering and digging his nails into his skin.

Green was arrested a day later, but denied the allegations. He invented a story about catching the boys cuddling on his sofa. He also claimed the boys concocted the story of the assaults after he discovered they had stolen some alcohol from him and he had threatened to tell their parents.

After the verdicts were delivered, the court also heard how in August, 1992, Green was sentenced to two six-month sentences after being found guilty of abducting another 14-year-old boy, a family friend, taking him to the nearby beauty spot of Farley Mount Country Park, and indecently assaulting him.

He also has previous convictions for wounding with intent and theft, for which he received a four-and-a-half year jail term in 1988, dishonesty, criminal damage and selling cannabis. As he was convicted of the two counts, Green sat fidgeting in the dock, but showed no emotion as he was taken down to the cells.

Remanding him into custody and ordering him to sign the sex offender register, Judge Guy Boney, QC, said Green "was clearly a danger to children". Sentencing will take place on February 11th, after a pre-sentence report.