Jason Cartledge, 42, of Charles Street, Wakefield, has been sentenced to 14 years, which includes a 10-year custodial sentence and four years on extended licence.

Investigation began in 2019, when a woman came forward to report sexual abuse, which had occurred between 2005 and 2008 in the Eastmoor area of Wakefield. She was a teenager at the time.

Officers from Wakefield District Safeguarding identified a substantial number of witnesses and during this time a second woman disclosed further non-recent sexual abuse which had occurred earlier, between 2001 and 2002. She was also a teenager at the time.

Cartledge was arrested in June 2019 regarding the initial report and further arrested in December 2020 for the second disclosure.

He was later charged with a number of sexual offences. He appeared at Leeds Crown Court and following a lengthy trial, he was found guilty of six offences, three counts of sexual activity with a child and three counts of indecent assault of a child.

He was sentenced yesterday and will remain on the Sex Offender Register for life and has been given a Sexual Harm Prevention Orders and Restraining Order preventing him from contacting the victims.