A FORMER Sunday school teacher branded "a sexual predator of monstrous proportions" has been jailed for 14 years for sexually abusing two girls.

John Laister, 72, was jailed today after being found guilty of 11 charges of rape, indecent assault and indecency on two girls aged under 16.

Laister had previously admitted that he indecently assaulted a teenage girl while he was working as a "house parent" at the now-closed Hilton Grange Children's Home in Bramhope, near Otley, in the early 1970s.

He was convicted on three charges of rape, four of indecent assault and four of indecency with a child and sentenced at Bradford Crown Court this morning.

His Honour Judge Peter Benson told Laister: "It's not exaggerating matters to say that in the 1970s you were a sexual predator of monstrous proportions."