A PAEDOPHILE who repeatedly raped and sexually abused three schoolboys has been jailed for 14 years.

David Bayes, 27, abused the young children at an address in Hadleigh over a three-year period, from May 2004.

He was found guilty of six counts of rape of a child under 13 and three counts of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, after a trial in August.

Bayes was also convicted of two counts of sexual assault on a child under 13 and one count of a further sexual assault of a child under 13.

Sentencing him at Basildon Crown Court yesterday Judge Christopher Mitchell said: “Over a period of at least two to three years you carried out a series of rapes against three boys.

“The boys were all well under the age of 13 and at the time their ages varied between six and ten or 11-years-old.

“The only course this court can adopt is to pass a very substantial sentence on you.

“You will be on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of your life.”

The paedophile, of Knox Road, Clacton, had forced two of the victims to perform sex acts on each other during the abuse.

He got away with the abuse for so long by threatening to hurt the boys if they told anyone what he was doing.

The offences only came to light during a school trip when a helper overheard the youngest victim talking to a friend about the abuse.

The sentencing had been previously adjourned so the judge could consider a psychiatric report.