A HAMPSHIRE choirmaster who was able to serve as a school governor despite being accused of child abuse was today jailed for two and a half years.

Peter Halliday, 61, abused the three boys who were in his church choir between 1985 and 1990.

He pleaded guilty to 10 counts of indecent assault at an earlier hearing and was jailed at Winchester Crown Court today.

Judge Ian Pearson said that Halliday, from Farnborough, had systematically sexually abused the boys and said the offences were so serious only a custodial sentence was appropriate.

He also banned married Halliday from working with children for life and told him that he would be put on the Sex Offenders Register for life and ordered him to pay £2,000 each compensation to his victims.