A MAN employed to protect vulnerable youngsters in Westminster has been jailed for sexually abusing three of them.

Edward Wright was arrested following evidence supplied to police of his activities as long ago as the late 1980s and early 1990s.

An Old Bailey jury heard prosecutor Christopher Hehir explain that Wright, now 52, worked in child care and specialised in looking after young offenders attending adventure playgrounds.

He lured three boys, one only 10, to his home in Streatham, south London, and molested them, beginning contact by "spanking" them.

Detectives found books on spanking when they raided his address last year soon after a history of his abuse came to light.

One victim, now serving a life sentence for murder, gave evidence over a video link to the court from Parkhurst prison on the Isle of Wight.

Following his conviction for indecent assault Wright was jailed for six and a half years by Judge Gerald Gordon.