A “WICKED and evil” former Scout leader may die behind bars after he was given a second life sentence for the horrific abuse of boys.

Philip Longbottom, 69, “systematically sought out and hunted down” his victims as his prey, the judge sentencing him at Bradford Crown Court said today (Wednesday).

Longbottom was jailed for life in September 2016, with a minimum term of seven years behind bars, for multiple counts of rape, serious sexual assault, and indecent assault against boys over a period of 40 years.

He returned to the court from prison this afternoon to be given a second life term in which he will spend at least six years in prison for 15 further offences.

Judge Jonathan Rose warned Longbottom that he would not be released until the Parole Board considered that he was no longer a serious risk of causing serious harm.

Longbottom pleaded guilty last month to five charges of buggery, involving three boys, and ten offences of indecent assault.

Prosecutor Stuart Denney said Longbottom abused six young boys aged between ten and 17.

The former Scout leader and Sea Cadet district officer took the youngsters to Cowling Pinnacle in South Craven to molest them as well as to mills and to his then home near Keighley.

Longbottom, a textiles businessman, formerly of Oakdale Drive, Wrose, Shipley, bribed the boys with alcohol, money, meals and sweets, the court heard.

Impact statements from his victims, now men, spoke of their shame, guilt and ruined childhoods.

“I blame myself for trusting a person in authority,” one stated. “I feel dirty inside even though it was years ago.”

Another had turned to drugs to block out “the horrific memory”.

One man described how he was groomed with drink and meals, although he mistrusted Longbottom from the first lingering handshake.

“I was used as a sexual predator’s toy,” the man stated. “I feel worthless, pointless and a disgrace of a man.”

He told how he had self-harmed and thought about suicide because of “my attacker, my nightmare: the single most evil man I have ever met.”

The sister of one of the victims blamed Longbottom for her brother’s untimely death in his forties. She said the little boy was “thrilled” when he joined the Sea Cadets and Longbottom took a special interest in him.

“He idolised him and he was brutally sexually attacked at only 14 years old,” the woman told the court.

Reading out her statement directly to Longbottom, who sat in the dock with head bowed, she said her brother turned to drink and that was a major factor in his death.

“He was isolated and on the margins of society. He died alone and largely estranged from his family and friends,” she said.

The woman said she made a statement to the police about Longbottom in 1999 but he remained at liberty to destroy more lives.

Another victim said he still lived with “the crippling shame” and every part of his life was impacted.

Several victims said Longbottom told them “who are they going to believe?” if they threatened to go to the police.

In 1970, Longbottom was given a suspended prison sentence for four offences of indecently assaulting young men.

His barrister, Phillip Boyd, said it was an “unbelievably spectacular fall from grace”.

Longbottom had already served two-and-a-half years behind bars and the six years would be served on top of that, meaning that he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Judge Rose labelled Longbottom a very dangerous man who had committed wicked offences.

“You systematically sought out and hunted down boys and young men as your prey,” he said.

The fact that he did not tell the police about the six more boys before he was sentenced in 2016 showed he had “dark secrets that he had been anxious to hide.”

After the case, Chief Inspector Phil Bates, of West Yorkshire Police, said: “The sentence of the court today reflects the sheer scale of Longbottom’s offending which spans multiple decades.

“I would encourage any further victims to come forward and make contact with us. All reports will be investigated sensitively by specially trained officers.”