Canberra: James Stewart Blandon, 60, sentenced for child sex crimes
A former Canberra bus driver, 60, will spend more than a decade behind bars for abhorrent sex crimes against children.
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A remorseless former Canberra bus driver who committed a string of abhorrent child sex crimes has been told to “rot, you bastard” as prison guards took him away to begin serving more than a decade-long jail sentence.
Paedophile James Stewart Blandon, 60, who worked as a bus driver for Acton Buses until police started looking into his past in 2017, was found guilty at trial of three counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child and one count of rape.
The crimes — which Blandon still disputes — date back to the 1980s and were perpetrated over nearly a decade.
ACT Supreme Court Justice John Burns praised the victims’ “considerable personal courage” in coming forward to report Blandon’s crimes as adults, decades later.
Justice Burns said Blandon’s failure to acknowledge his crimes, even after being found guilty by a jury, denied his victims the sense of closure they would otherwise have had.
In statements to the court, Blandon’s victims said some former acquaintances sided with the now-proven paedophile and isolated them after they reported their attacker to police.
The crime which attracted the longest sentence — eight years — involved Blandon having a child go with him each week to chop firewood.
He made the child perform oral sex on him by the wood pile each week for more than a year.
Justice Burns said Blandon was in a “position of trust and authority over the victim” and that the child was entitled to feel safe around adults.
Blandon’s paedophilia became an open secret among many who knew him but it was not until 2017 that one of the victims came forward to police.
Justice Burns said “it need hardly be said” that child sex offences were among the most serious crimes on the books, and that Blandon’s offending would have long lasting effects on his victims.
“You used your young (victims) for your sexual gratification,” he said.
“Your failure to acknowledge your guilt disentitles you to any leniency in sentencing.”
Blandon separated from his wife, Christine, after being charged, but the court heard she continues to support him.
In a reference, Mrs Blandon described the paedophile as a good husband and father and a hard worker.
The court also heard he had been commended by Action buses for helping a 13 year old girl who was being threatened on board a bus he was driving.
Justice Burns sentenced Blandon to 12 years jail.
He will be eligible for parole in 2026.
As he was led away to the cells, a man sitting in the packed public gallery yelled “rot, you bastard”.