A YOUNG man has been banned from loitering near schools and jailed for 16 months after he twice tried to lure 11-year-old boys into his car.

Martin Kidd was last year caught being involved in arranging a sex offence via the internet involving a 13-year-old girl and was cautioned, York Crown Court heard.

Rupert Doswell, prosecuting, said after the day after his arrest outside one York school following the two abduction bids, Kidd was spotted outside a second school in the same area. He has been in custody ever since.

Judge Roger Ibbotson told him: “There is a very disturbing pattern to you committing offences with such persistence.”

Kidd, 21, of Rose Tree Grove, New Earswick, pleaded guilty to two charges of attempted child abduction and driving without insurance.

He denied a third allegation of attempted abduction which was left on file.

In additon to the jail term, he was given a five-year restraining order that stops him going anywhere near the two boys, plus a third he allegedly approached, having unsupervised contact with any child under 16, and being alone in a car with a child. He must also tell the police the registration number of any car he owns. He also got six penalty points on his licence.

Mr Doswell said Kidd tried to get the first 11-year-old boy to get into his car as the child was walking along the street near a school at 6pm on October 17. The boy refused and went to a friend’s house. When he came out a few minutes later, he saw Kidd waiting nearby “looking at him suspiciously”.

He told his mother and police were waiting for Kidd the next evening outside the first school. Unknown to them, earlier that day, he had approached a second 11-year-old boy at shops near the second school and told him to get into his car.

When the boy refused, he got angry and drove off in his black and white Ford Escort with a white spoiler and lights running right round its base. He was arrested alone in the car later that day, driving without insurance.

For Kidd, Paul Williams said there was no evidence he had been sexually motivated. His family were standing by him and would supervise him closely after his release.

“They are extremely anxious that the court should not think he has a sexual preference or interest in young boys at all,” he said. “What you have here is an incredibly naive and immature young man who doesn’t really mingle with his own age group and lives at home with his parents.”

He liked being an “elder brother” to younger boys.