A Bradford councillor found guilty of sexually abusing two schoolgirls was today jailed for a total of five years by a judge at Bradford Crown Court.

Bob Hargreaves, 62, had been convicted of eight charges of abuse including one charge of attempted rape which date back to the early 1990s when he ran a butcher's shop.

Hargreaves was sacked by the Liberal Democrat group when he was convicted after a trial at the Crown Court last November but he refused to resign as a councillor for the Bolton and Undercliffe ward.

Judge Roger Scott jailed Hargreaves for five years on the charge of attempted rape and passed concurrent prison sentences of three and two years respectively for the four offences of indecent assault and three of indecency with a child.

Hargreaves had been cleared by the jury at his trial on three further allegations of indecency with a child and two of indecent assault.

Passing sentence Judge Scott said it was a seriously aggravating feature of the case that victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, were aged about 11 and 12 at the time of the offences.

Judge Scott indicated that the offences fell into the category where the starting point for the sentence after a trial was eight years in jail.

But he said he was reducing the term because the final offence had been an attempted rape and he also had to take account of Hargreaves' age and poor health.

Hargreaves, who lived with his common-law wife in Buttermere Road, Bolton, Bradford, has lodged an appeal against his conviction.

Normally the length of sentence would mean he is automatically disqualified from serving on the Council but that is stayed pending the appeal decision.