A MAN has been jailed for nine years for sex offences carried out more than two decades ago.

A court heard that Norman Heaps' crimes had had a severe effect on his two young victims.

The judge who passed the sentence at Preston Crown Court told the 59-year-old defendant: "Each of the offences is so serious that only a substantial period of prison can reflect the indignation that members of the public have."

Heaps, of Bolton Road, Blackburn, had pleaded guilty to four charges of rape involving two girls. The offences were committed more than 20 years ago.

The court heard that in a victim impact statement one of the women said she still had strong feelings of disgust towards Heaps over what had happened.

The other woman was particularly bitter about the way the stress and anxiety of the abuse had affected her life, the court was told.

Over a year ago, one of them told a social worker of the abuse she suffered while a young girl.

Heaps was arrested in April last year. The allegations were put to him but he denied them Mr Simon Newell, prosecuting, told the court. In 1987, several years after the offences, the defendant was given a two-year prison sentence for an indecent assault on a separate girl.

Mr Keith Thomas, defending, said that by pleading guilty, Heaps had saved the two women both the trauma and humiliation of having to give evidence.

He said the defendant had not committed any abuse since his release from prison in 1988.

"He is adamant that he learned his lesson from that and has not committed any further offences since.

"Now, at almost 60, the prospect of a prison sentence and a considerable one at that is very daunting to him, a man in advancing years and not in good health."

In 1992 Heaps suffered a stroke that affected him considerably. His barrister suggested he did not pose any serious risk of harm in the future.

Judge Pamela Badley directed that Heaps be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life. She also made an order, disqualifying him from working with children.

She passed a nine years term on each of the four offences, all to run concurrently.