A MAN who started sexually abusing two children when he was a teenager was handed a 15-year jail sentence.

Christopher Goode, of Simon House, in Paradise Street, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court last Friday.

The 29-year-old was found guilty of 17 sexual offences against a girl and a boy, which took place between December 1998 and September 2006.

A jury found him guilty on June 15 of five counts of rape, two counts of rape of a child under 13, seven counts of indecent assault, two counts of sexual assault and one count of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity after a five-day trial.

But the jury found Goode not guilty of one count of indecency with a child, while Judge Ian Pringle directed the jury to find him not guilty of a further two counts of rape and another two counts of sexual assault.

Prosecutor Rebecca Austin said Goode was 13 when he started sexually assaulting his first victim in December 1998.

Defence barrister Terence Woods said Goode was "extremely young, especially at the beginning" of the offending, lacking "any real parenting" during his childhood and often being left to his "own devices".

He added: "He has not committed any like offences in over 10 years."

Judge Pringle said: "Your behaviour towards the victims was utterly despicable and whatever one says about age, nothing can escape that bare, plain and horrific fact.

"You were still a young, a very young, person and for that reason I have got to [cut] and I cut down the sentence I would have otherwise have passed."

Goode was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with a further seven years on licence, and was made subject to a sexual offences prevention order.

Judge Pringle told Goode he would also have to "notify authorities" of where he is living for the rest of his life.

Investigating officer Det Con Rebecca McLeod, from the Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said: "This is a significant sentence which reflects the severity of the crimes committed by Christopher Goode.

"I would like to thank the victims for their courage in coming forward. The victims have been living with the memories of the abuse inflicted upon them for over a decade, hopefully this sentence will enable them to move forward with their lives."