By John Hawkins

A MAN who was jailed for abusing two children when he was a teenager has been told that his prison sentence will not be reduced.

Father-of-three James Paul King was found guilty of sex offences against a girl and a boy following a retrial at Gloucester Crown Court.

The 34-year-old, of Highwood Court in Forest Green, Nailsworth, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years on February 2.

On Monday he challenged his sentence at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, but his case was dismissed by three senior judges.

However he will serve almost a month less behind bars, after the judges ruled that time he spent on electronic tag should be deducted from his sentence.

Lord Justice Treacy told the court the abuse on the two youngsters started in the 1990s, when King was just 15. The boy was under 13 and the girl was under 10 when the assaults on them began.

The male victim contacted police in 2013 and reported the crimes.

King denied any wrongdoing, but was found guilty of four offences relating to the boy and eight relating to the girl.

His lawyers said his jail term was "simply too much". They argued the sentencing judge had given "insufficient weight" to King being just 15 and a troubled child at the time of the assaults.

But Lord Justice Treacy, sitting with Mr Justice Sweeney and Mr Justice Picken, said: “We are unpersuaded that the sentence of seven years and six months was manifestly excessive.”