A former cub scout leader, swimming coach and first aid instructor has been found guilty of 79 counts of sexually abusing more than a dozen boys over about 30 years.
The jury returned unanimous verdicts on all 79 counts at Lewes Crown Court at the end of a trial that started a month ago.
Judge Christine Laing, the honorary recorder of Brighon and Hove, told Silvester that he would be sentence in February. He was remanded in custody.
Silvester, 60, used his position to take advantage of children – some as young as seven or eight years old – even babysitting some of them after winning the trust of their parents.
Silvester, of Locks Hill, Portslade, abused boys while he volunteering as a cub leader, in Hove, and as a swimming coach at the Aquarena, in Worthing.
The former nurse taught first aid with St John Ambulance and started his own first aid training business, using it to abuse more boys, some of them described as vulnerable.
Lesley Bates, prosecuting, told the jury at Lewes Crown Court: “Over this period of about 30 years, Ian Silvester befriended boys and their families so that he was taken in and trusted.
“To some, he became a part of the family. Parents trusted him to babysit their children. He held different roles which gave him an air of respectability but also unlimited access to young and very often vulnerable boys.
“He was a cub scout leader, a diving instructor, a St John Ambulance trainer and a first aid trainer.
“In each of those roles, he was able to persuade these young boys to do what he asked without question.
“He took advantage of their young age and immaturity and his position of trust to play games or create activities which made what he was doing appear both innocent and legitimate.
“As a cub scout leader it was called ‘jungle treatment’. As a diving coach it was training to prevent the student being distracted when diving.
“As a first aid training provider, it was to train boys to act as a casualty and play dead. As a babysitter it was learning maths or playing a game.
“Whatever the description of it, it all involved the same sort of touching and, the prosecution says, the same motive: his sexual gratification.
“This touching happened to 19 different boys. Some were alone. Some were together. Some were told to do it to each other – no doubt to reinforce the legitimacy of it while also getting gratification from watching them.
“Ian Silvester was arrested and interviewed on a number of occasions. For the most part, he accepted that he had done the touching alleged.
