A PREDATORY paedophile has been given a life sentence by a Southampton judge after preying on youngsters.

City pensioner James Jefferies carried out his sickening abuse for almost 30 years before he was caught.

The former carpenter told his young victims never to reveal their "secret" and used emotional blackmail to help ensure it.

One victim was so badly traumatised by his offending that he needed psychiatric treatment. A second blamed the collapse of his marriage on drink which he said, had been triggered by his physical abuse.

Judge David Griffiths said it was one of the worst cases he had heard in court.

Victims and their relatives sat in the public gallery, some wiping away tears, as they listened to the sordid history of Jefferies' offending.

Jefferies, 66, sat close to his lawyer outside the dock after being brought into the city crown court in a wheelchair. He held his head throughout the proceedings as prosecutor John Williams took 20 minutes outlining the case against him, describing how and where the offences were committed.

Jefferies said it had begun 28 years ago but the first of his victims thought it had been earlier. By that time, the court heard, he already had one conviction for indecent assault - in 1959 he was fined for an offence against a teenager.

His downfall came when two boys eventually plucked up the courage to tell the police.

A three-month investigation carried out by the paedophile and child protection units culminated in Jefferies, of Janaway Gardens, St Denys, admitting 61 sample charges of indecent assault, indecency with a child and another serious sexual offence.

Jonathan Fuller QC said there was little to say in mitigation. Jefferies' wife was standing by him and he asked the judge to take into account the pensioner's age, his guilty pleas and his state of health. Jefferies, he added, did not want to die in prison.

Passing sentence, the judge described the offences as being of the grossest sexual depravity, compounded by a serious breach of trust.

"Your victims were young. The times you abused them were frequent and covered a protracted length of time. The emotional effects they suffered, one does not want to contemplate. You are a skilled and resourceful seducer of young boys."

The judge told Jefferies he would spend six years in custody before the Parole Board considered his case.

The judge stressed Jefferies would only be released when they considered he no longer posed a risk to the public. Otherwise, he would remain in prison.

Jefferies was ordered to be put on the sex offenders register for life.

After the case, DC Chris Mason, of Hampshire police's paedophile unit, who led the police investigation, said: "We welcome the sentence because of the gravity of the offences."

Hampshire police launched its specialist paedophile unit to combat child abuse in January 2000.

The team, based at force support headquarters at Netley, works with other forces and agencies including HM Customs and Excise and the National Criminal Intelligence Service.

Detectives urged victims of child abuse not to suffer in silence. Information can be passed to Hampshire police via the 24-hour paedophile hotline on 023 8074 5464.