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 yesterday jailed after being found guilty of 11 charges of rape, indecent assault and indecency on two girls aged under 16.

He 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, where he lived with his family, in the early 1970s.

He faced three charges of rape, four of indecent assault and four of indecency with a child.

Laister, who gave no reaction when the verdict was delivered, was also placed on the sex offenders' register for the rest of his life.

Most of the charges resulted from his "depraved" conduct between 1976 and 1978. The rape charges related to a different girl between 1970 and 1972.

He claimed during his trial that he did not have sex with the girl or rape her. He did, however, admit he molested other children at Hilton Grange as well as youngsters who attended Sunday school at the Thorpe Edge evangelical church in Bradford, where he taught "religious matters."

Bradford Crown Court previously heard Laister, who was arrested in 2012, held a book in one hand while using the other to assault a girl during story sessions after Sunday sermons at Thorpe Edge evangelical church, in Bradford.

One of his victims suffered from epilepsy and polio at the time of his attacks.

He pleaded guilty to indecent assault charges involving the rape victim.

In 1989, Laister was questioned by the Metropolitan police where he admitted he had "touched" a girl while working at another children's home near Scarborough.

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.

"You were in a position of serious trust and you abused that in the most extreme fashion.

"She was one of a number of young girls you abused at the time. She seems to have been the major object of your loathsome activities.

"You became a Sunday school teacher at Thorpe Edge, where you taught religious matters. A position of great trust which you systematically abused.

"You took the fullest possible advantage of her vulnerability and you deliberately groomed her with false attention to indecently assault her. You embarked on a campaign of sexual abuse.

"One of your victims kept quiet about what happened to her for over 30 years until 2012. She is still suffering the consequences of your depraved conduct."

Laister, who used to live in Horsforth but now resides in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, remarried in 1992 and worked in the publishing business.

Detective Constable Naomi Brown, of the Bradford District Safeguarding Unit, said: "Laister took advantage of his victims' young ages and vulnerabilities to carry out these attacks over a period of time.

"We would like to thank them for reporting these offences to the police, and we hope that the lengthy sentence passed down will help to give them some closure.

"We also hope it will encourage other victims to come forward and speak to our specially trained officers, who will investigate all reports of sexual abuse thoroughly and sensitively, with the intention of bringing the offenders to justice."