A FORMER Blaenavon bookshop-owner was today jailed for a further 60 years in a US court after he admitted three charges of rape.

At a hearing in Madison County, Arkansas, James Daniel Hanna, 67, changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on three charges of rape and was sentenced to another 60 years, having already been given a 60-year prison sentence in July.

He was arrested in Madison County in August 2012 and pleaded guilty to two counts of producing indecent images of children in January this year.

In June, Hanna was sentenced to 60 years imprisonment without the possibility of parole, supervised release for life if ever released from prison, and a $25,000 fine.

At that hearing, United States Attorney Conner Eldridge said: "Crimes against children victimise the most vulnerable in our communities. The defendant in this case produced child pornography by preying on several minor girls, some as young as 13 years old."

A concerned parent first raised suspicions of Hanna’s activities in August last year saying he had sexually assaulted two 13-year-old girls.

The court in Fayetteville heard how Hanna had produced sexually explicit images of at least six different minors, ranging from 13 to 16 years old.

The Argus reported in 2003 that New Orleans-born Hanna worked to launch Blaenavon as a booktown similar to Hay-on-Wye.

Seven bookshops were opened at the time and tens of thousands of books were stored in a Blaenavon warehouse ready for distribution to would-be booksellers keen to set up their own businesses.

But three years later a number of the bookshops had closed and Hanna left the area.