A PERVERT pensioner, caged for repeatedly groping schoolgirls, has had his 14-and-a-half-year sentence cut by top judges on appeal.

Sick paedophile, Albert Clarke, preyed on three youngsters, London's Appeal Court heard, in one episode using the cover of a public swimming pool to have a furtive fondle.

The 68-year-old groper was put behind bars at Burnley Crown Court in March after admitting multiple counts of indecency, sexual assault and assault by penetration.

Two of the schoolgirls even kept a diary detailing Clarke's ‘horrible’ behaviour, but were too nervous to go to the police.

Clarke, of Colne Road, Blackburn, was finally arrested after he gave a lift to his third victim who then complained about him, Mr Justice Blake told the court.

On the surface, Clarke was an upstanding member of the community with a spotless reputation, the court heard, but this image concealed his true deviant character.

His crimes had taken a devastating toll on his own family, said the judge - who added that Clarke's wife died of a heart attack soon after his arrest.

His young victims had also suffered a "traumatic impact".

However, Mr Justice Blake, sitting with Lady Justice Sharp and Judge Alistair McCreath, agreed to cut Clarke's sentence, which his lawyers attacked as 'manifestly excessive'.

"Giving full credit for his guilty pleas - and allowing a further reduction for his age - we conclude that the appropriate overall sentence which should have been imposed was 11 years," the appeal judge concluded.