A former junior football coach has been jailed for nine years for grooming and sexually molesting two young boys.

Bradford City fan Joshua Duffy, who appealed on the club’s message board in October 2009 for players for his new under tens Sunday League team called King’s Park Rangers, was yesterday sentenced for 18 offences.

He was last week convicted by a jury at Bradford Crown Court of all the allegations against him and remanded in custody.

Duffy, 23, of Ploughman’s Croft, Bolton, Bradford, took indecent photographs of one boy, aged ten to 13, after sexually abusing him.

He twice attempted to rape his victim while he was his football coach, luring the boy with computer games and gifts.

The abuse came to light when staff at the boy’s school became concerned about over-affectionate texts from Duffy on his phone.

Police seized his computer and recovered seven indecent images of the boy, naked or semi-naked.

Duffy’s first victim was said to have been aged three to five. Duffy sexually abused him in his mid-teens, switching to the second boy when the first moved away from the Bradford area.

Duffy, a chronic alcoholic, blamed the second boy for taking indecent photos of himself and making advances to him.

Wearing a suit and tie, he stood in the dock with head bowed yesterday as the Recorder of Bradford, Judge James Stewart QC, said he deliberately targeted victims to molest.

“You groomed each of them for the purpose of sexually abusing them,” the judge told him.

Judge Stewart made a Sexual Offences Prevention Order to protect children from Duffy in the future and he must sign on with the police as a sex offender for life.

After the case, Detective Constable Kirsty Smith, of West Yorkshire Police Child and Public Protection Unit, said: “We welcome the conviction of Duffy and the substantial sentence imposed, which should serve as a warning that these type of offences will be punished harshly by our courts.

“We also want to commend the courage of the victims in this case and hope Duffy’s conviction will bring them some comfort.”

“I would like to reassure residents that victims of this type, or any sexual offence, who come forward will be treated with the utmost sensitivity and consideration.”