A MAN has been jailed for 18 years with a further year on extended licence for the sexual abuse of six child victims over four decades.

Robert Squires, 80, from Bosinney near Tintagel, was sentenced at Truro Crown Court having pleaded guilty to a total of 23 child sexual offences – both recent and non-recent – including two rapes of a child, attempted rape and multiple indecent assaults.

He must serve two thirds of the sentence before being eligible for parole.

During the hearing, the court was told how Squires targeted his victims from a young age and committed the abuse in a variety of locations.

Squires attended Bodmin Police Station as a voluntary attender and admitted to much of the abuse, saying that he got a sexual thrill from the offending.

Detective sergeant Nick Williams from the Devon and Cornwall Police Public Protection Unit said: “Robert Squires is an extremely dangerous sexual offender who has now been brought to justice for his crimes.

“Squires carried out a catalogue of abuse against his victims over the course of around 40 years, all while carrying on with his life as if nothing had happened.

“The abuse had a huge impact on the lives of his victims and I’d like to praise their strength for coming forward and reporting to us what happened to them.

“Squires may have spared them having to give evidence at a trial with his guilty pleas, but they will continue to have to live with what he did to them. We hope they are now able to move on with their lives as a result of the sentence.

“Anybody who has been the victim of sexual abuse – regardless of when it took place – should get in contact with us. You will be believed and our officers will thoroughly investigate all such reports made to us.”