A convicted murderer who murdered two women in the 1990s has been found guilty of sexually abusing a child in the years before the attacks.

Alun Kyte, 58, lured the nine-year-old to his Staffordshire home with the promise of toys before attacking him.

The five-year campaign of abuse, which began in the 1980s, saw Kyte punch, choke, kick and taunt the boy.

He was found guilty of various offenses at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday and will be sentenced on February 24.

Kyte is currently serving a life sentence, with a minimum term of 25 years, for the murders of two sex workers, Samo Paull, 20, and Tracy Turner, 30.

Nottingham Crown Court was told how Kyte gave the boy 50p after the first assault and threatened his family after each further attack.

Prosecutor Ben Lawrence said the abuse lasted for years and escalated into violence with threats against the victim and her friends and loved ones if they told anyone.

“The violence and threats used by Kyte would be an obvious explanation as to why his victim felt unable to tell anyone at the time,” he told the court.

Testifying, the victim, who said he had been suffocated to unconsciousness on occasion, was afraid Kyte would harm his family, so he decided to “get it over with.”

In his testimony, Kyte denied that anything had happened or that the victim had ever been inside his home.

During cross-examination, the 58-year-old man accepted that he was capable of extreme violence, but denied harming his victim.

But jurors found him guilty of four counts of indecency with a child, three counts of attempted suffocation, two counts of indecent assault on a male and two other felony sexual offenses.

In March 2000, Kaye was jailed for the murders of Paull and Turner.

Ms Paull met Kyte at Balsall Heath, Birmingham, in December 1993 and her body was later found near the M1 in Leicestershire. They had strangled her.

Ms Turner met Kyte at an M6 service station in March 1994 and her body was later found near Lutterworth, Leicestershire. She too had been strangled.