A PAEDOPHILE church musician who sexually abused three boys in a period spanning four decades has been jailed for eight years.

John Henderson, 63, whose late father was organist and choir master at York Minster, cut a lock of hair from one of his young victims as a trophy or memento of his sexual depravity, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Henderson pleaded guilty to indecent assault and indecency with a child when he was between 19 and 21 and the boy was aged ten to 11.

The two offences, in the mid 1970s, happened on a single occasion after Henderson showed the child a pornographic magazine and told him to take down his trousers.

He said he "liked boys" and cut a lock of the boy's hair to keep before allowing him to leave his flat.

The complainant, now in his 50s, was left so traumatised he later suffered a mental breakdown, prosecutor Paul Abrahams said.

He told of feeling "horrible, disgusted and dirty".

He alerted the police when he saw a recent press report about Henderson pleading guilty to ten offences of sexually abusing a Bradford boy aged between six and 14.

That boy, who is now in his late 20s, was groomed by Henderson with presents, including a phone.

Henderson, of Neville Street, York, filmed the boy playing and told him to undress. He recalled Henderson wearing loose fitting shorts with no underwear so he could expose himself to abuse the boy.

Henderson admitted seven counts of indecency with a child under 14 and three offences of indecent assault on a male person.

Mr Abrahams said that before the two complainants reported the abuse to the police, Henderson was convicted in 1983 of inciting a third boy to commit gross indecency and indecently assaulting him, in a similar incident to that suffered by the first victim.

He was sentenced to a probation order at York Magistrates’ Court in what was "a different approach back then”, Mr Abrahams told the court.

The Bradford victim told how Henderson bought him presents and would kiss him while he carried out a sex act on himself.

The first victim said in his personal statement that he turned to drugs and listened to punk music to deal with his inner anger. He dropped out of school and was on anti-depressants for life.

He now mistrusted religious people because of Henderson's association with the church and church organs.

He was deeply distressed by Henderson taking a lock of his hair as a trophy after abusing him.

The Bradford victim, described as a vulnerable child who had suffered a difficult background, was left with psychological and behavioural damage. The abuse stopped only when he was taken into foster care.

In mitigation, Henderson's barrister Sarah Barlow said her client had mental and physical problems.

He was deeply affected by the death of his father and had himself a large collection of musical instruments at his home.

"He is isolated and reclusive and he has lost all close family and he has no friends," Miss Barlow said.

He had not committed any further offences in the 13 years since he had abused the Bradford boy.

Sentencing him, Judge Colin Burn told Henderson he was a serial child abuser.

"You have three sets of convictions before the courts for behaviour of this sort," he said.

Referring to the probation order Henderson received in 1983, Judge Burn stated: "The courts have eventually realised that the harm caused by offending of this type is profound, long-lasting and extremely damaging."

Henderson's probation officer found that he posed a high risk of committing similar offences in the future.

"The longer these matters take to get to the surface, the worse the pain and psychological damage," Judge Burn said.

He jailed Henderson for four-and-a-half years for abusing the first boy and three-and-a-half years for offending against the Bradford boy, the sentences to run consecutively.

Henderson must sign on the sex offender register for life and the judge made a Sexual Harm Prevention Order without limit of time.