A VILE paedophile who sexually abused two little girls, the youngest aged four, will be 'crushed' by a prison sentence after his dirty 'secret' came out while he was caught in the act.

Lester Caine was jailed for 40 months for sexual offences against two children, one aged four and the other aged six or seven when he appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Monday, as previously reported. However, he was not ruled to be dangerous in law by Judge James Burbidge QC, the Recorder of Worcester, who told him that, despite his previous good character, he had 'over the years kept a secret'.

The defendant, an obese 65-year-old who suffers from diabetes, admitted inciting a child of four to engage in sexual activity on July 20, 2019 and indecent assault against another child between 26 and 28 years ago. This happened between 1992 and 1994 when the victim would have been six or seven years old.

The tubby, mullet-sporting child-molester was caught in the act of abusing the four-year-old by an adult and police were called.

This led to the disclosure of the earlier abuse against a different young girl and also sparked an investigation which revealed Caine had been making indecent images of children and also had 'extreme pornography' including prohibited images involving animals.

In total officers found 186 images at category A - these are considered the most serious and depict penetrative sexual abuse of children. The girls being abused were under seven, one estimated to be as young as three.

The sex offender also had 91 indecent images at category B, 350 at category C and 47 extreme pornographic images involving animals, including horses and dogs. The 'vast majority' of these images were still accessible.

Simon Burns, defending, said: "He knows full well that he's going to be facing a custodial sentence. That is clearly inevitable in a case like this. During the very first conference I had with him with my instructing solicitors he admitted the offence and fully confessed which perhaps goes some way to mitigate the pre-sentence report which isn't, by any means, glowing. He found that extremely difficult - to open up to a stranger (the probation officer)."

Mr Burns went on to tell the judge that the immediate prison sentence was going to be 'crushing' for Caine.

He added: "The sentence is going to be very, very damaging for him. He's diabetic. He's going to find prison extremely difficult to deal with.

"He's not going to pose a serious risk to society. Hopefully, when he comes out of prison he will have learned the most salutory lesson of his life and is able to pick up the pieces in some way."

His barrister also described Caine as an intelligent and articulate man who had been a successful businessman and electronics engineer with a masters degree.

"He has had this matter hanging over him for a considerable amount of time" he said. "He realises what he has done - the pain and anguish he has caused. It is something which he will carry with him to the grave. Your Honour will see from his letter he wishes to make an apology."

The barrister also said his client had 'a positive side', argued that he was not deemed a high risk and that his likelihood of re-offending was assessed to be low.