A KNOWN sex offender who kidnapped a Blackburn schoolboy and sparked a nationwide hunt is set to be jailed for a "very long" time today at Preston Crown Court.

James Warke, 36, who lived in the Audley area of Blackburn, was found guilty of a string of sex offences at Carlisle Crown Court.

Warke, who has a long history of paedophile offending, abducted a 12-year-old boy and went on the run with him earlier this year.

He was eventually arrested in Worthing on the south coast after a nationwide police hunt.

Warke was convicted in October at Carlisle Crown Court of four counts of gross indecency involving the boy, three counts of gross indecency and one indecent assault against two other boys aged 11 and 12.

He was cleared of three other charges at the trial.

After his conviction at Carlisle Crown Court he was warned by the judge to expect a "very long sentence."

Even his own barrister, Philip Wakeham, admitted: "He is a man who is likely to represent for some time a threat to children."

And Judge Peter Openshaw QC told Warke: "You are an exceptionally dangerous man from whom the public must be protected by a very lengthy prison sentence."

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