A MAN was has been jailed for four-and-a-half years for sex offences against young girls.

Michael Barrett had admitted one sex offence against a 12-year-old girl, which took place 27 years ago, but denied 10 others against another girl who lived in the Leigh area.

However, Barrett, aged 47, now of Tamworth, Staffordshire, was convicted of 10 charges of indecent assault following a trial. He sexually abused the girl starting when she was six, until she was 12.

The girl told no-one what was happening until she talked about it years later with her friends and fiance. Barrett, a father of two, was arrested in June 2000.

Judghe Gillian Ruaux ordered that he sign the Sex Offenders' Register for the rest of his life.

Judge Gillian Ruaux said Barrett had engineered situations where he could abuse the girls and there was evidence from reports that he would pose a threat to young children when released from his jail sentence.

She told Barrett: "You have shown no remorse for what you did and you do present some risk for the future." Barrett, a father-of-two, once stripped the girl naked and undressed himself. When she ran away he caught her and committed an indecent act.