A predatory sex offender who befriended disadvantaged boys on trains before grooming and abusing them has been jailed for at least 17-and-a-half years.
Richard John Westwood, 63, of Ottoway in Adelaide, was first convicted of a sex offence, carnal knowledge, in 1972 and went on to molest children in each of the past four decades.
His latest offending involved periods between 1993 and 2012, when his seven victims were aged between nine and 17.
Westwood pleaded guilty to seven counts of indecent assault, four of persistent sexual exploitation of a child, and one each of producing child pornography and unlawful sexual intercourse.
In jailing him for 21 years, nine months and 14 days in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Justice Tim Stanley made a declaration that Westwood was a serious repeat offender.
Westwood met the boys on trains, gave them gifts and money and also used drugs and alcohol to make them amenable to sexual activity.
"Your conduct was predatory in nature, you befriended and groomed your victims for sexual exploitation," the judge said.
"You gained their trust and you abused their trust in an abhorrent manner."
Westwood had caused profound dysfunction to the lives of his victims and this would continue to plague them for the rest of their days, he added.
After being fined for the carnal knowledge, Westwood was jailed in 1989 for sex offences against a girl.
He was on parole for that offending when he molested the first of the seven boys.
Westwood claimed he never hurt any of the boys, only wanted to help them and was in love with one victim.
Psychological reports said Westwood tended to blame everyone, including his victims, for the crimes and posed a very high risk of reoffending.
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