A FORMER Scout leader who indulged in a 40-year campaign of horrific sexual abuse against 12 boys was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of seven years behind bars.

Businessman Philip Longbottom, 67, used his wealth and influence to befriend his victims’ families and then bribed and threatened the children to keep them quiet.

Longbottom pleaded guilty to 43 offences, stretching from 1972 to 2010.

They include multiple counts of rape, serious sexual assault and indecent assault, and assault with intent to commit serious sexual assault.

Longbottom was a successful businessman in the local textile industry.

He lived at a farm at Goose Eye and abused boys during expeditions on his land. He was a Scout leader and connected to the Sea Cadets.

The boys he abused, on expeditions and camping holidays, were aged nine to 16.

Sentencing him for his "dreadful deeds", Judge Jonathan Rose said Longbottom had a "perception of children as things to be bought and used."

He said: "You were a dangerous sexual predator, and you systematically sought out boys as your prey.

"Your offending was wicked and the harm it caused was long-lasting, if not ever-lasting.

"There is evidence of bullying and controlling to allow your offending to continue.

"It is regrettable it has taken you so long to admit it."

After the case, Adrienne Gower, the head of the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit, Crown Prosecution Service Yorkshire and Humberside, said: "Longbottom was a wealthy businessman and apparent pillar of the local community. Using his wealth and status, he befriended and then systematically abused young boys for over 30 years, in what amounted to a campaign of rape against multiple victims.

"He groomed his victims by showering them with lavish gifts, money, foreign holidays and camping trips.

"He plied them with drugs and alcohol; assaulted and raped them, abusing their trust in him in the most obscene manner.

"He has damaged very many lives in over three decades of offending. I hope the life sentence handed down today is of some comfort to his many victims.”