A former cub scout leader dubbed a "paedophile hiding in plain sight" has been jailed for sexually assaulting children as young as seven years old spanning nearly 30 years.

Ian Silvester, of Locks Hill in Portslade, East Sussex, previously denied 83 charges of historical sex abuse in Hove and Worthing.

Silvester, 60, who also worked as a babysitter, diving instructor, first aid trainer and St John Ambulance trainer, was found guilty of 79 of those charges following a trial at Lewes Crown Court in November.

He was sentenced to 16 years in prison with an additional six years on licence at the same court on Friday.

Sentencing Silvester, judge Christine Laing KC said: "You are the very definition of a paedophile hiding in plain sight."

The judge said the defendant had given his victims a "lifetime of shame and regret", telling the court the abuse happened so "openly and plainly and so often in front of others".