PERVERT Alan Naylor was behind bars today - after pleading guilty to a string of sex attacks on two young girls.

The paedophile regularly assaulted his victims in the early 1970s and was only caught when one of them came forward to report her ordeal.

Naylor, aged 61, of Westland Avenue, Farnworth, pleaded guilty to 17 counts of sexually abusing the girls, one as young as seven, when he appeared before Bolton Crown Court yesterday.

The judge told him he had robbed the girls of their innocence and he was jailed for three-and-a-half years.

But one of his victims, who is now 45 years old, said she was disappointed with the jail term and added: "I haven't got any closure."

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had suffered from depression, was on medication and was seeing a psychiatrist because of what he did to her.

Iain Simkin, prosecuting, told how Naylor would assault one girl in front of other people by holding her on his knee so they only thought he was cuddling her.

The court heard that Naylor sexually abused one girl between the ages of nine and 14, and her sister between the ages of seven and 12.

Nicola Gatto, defending, said Naylor, who was abused himself as a child, was "embarrassed and ashamed" by his behaviour.

"He openly admits that in relation to these young girls he has effectively taken their childhood," she said. "He wants to apolgise, but doesn't know where to start."

Judge Warnock told Naylor that he had "perpetrated a sustained and sordid campaign of sexual abuse" against the girls.

"In effect you robbed them of their innocence," he said.

Naylor, who lost an eye in a work accident and suffers from asthma and chronic back pain, was ordered not to live in any place where a child under 16 lives. He was also placed on the sex offenders register.

Naylor's victim said she had no regrets about complaining to the police about the crime.

She now wants to see more education about child sex abuse as she feels her plight was ignored as a youngster.

"I've been let down by a whole heap of people," she said. "People should stop turning their backs on child sex abuse."