A GWENT police worker and former church warden was branded "evil, corrupt and disgusting" today by a judge who sentenced him to 11 years in prison for abusing young boys.

A civilian police vetting file clerk and former warden of St Peter's Church, Blaenavon, Lyndon Lewis was sentenced at Cardiff crown court today after a jury found him guilty of 22 sex offences yesterday.

Lewis, 58, from Cwmavon Road, Blaenavon, was convicted of six serious sexual offences, 15 indecent assaults and one charge of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, between 1987 and last year.

A Gwent Police internal inquiry is also under way. Judge Christopher Llewellyn-Jones, QC, told Lewis: "You are in my judgment an evil, corrupting and disgusting man. You ingratiated yourself with a veneer of respectability."

He told Lewis he had targeted one boy who was "vulnerable from the tender age of ten and you committed the most dreadful sexual assaults".

He told Lewis: "It has been said on your behalf that you did not use physical force, threats or bribery, but you didn't need to - you simply dominated them so that they had no-one to turn to."

The judge commended the three victims for having the courage to come forward. He told Lewis he had not shown the slightest remorse.

The judge said: "The jury in a very short time saw through your lies. You remain a potential risk, although you will receive treatment in prison."

Lewis was placed on the sex offenders' register for life and was told he will never be able to work with children. He was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £5,000 and told he would have to serve at least half of his sentence.

Former Bermuda police worker Lewis had been described as "a pillar of local society". He had been a magistrates court worker and town clerk, his counsel said.

Prosecutor Tom Crowther said the abuse started in 1988, and in the 1990s Lewis began to abuse another teenage boy.

The abuse came to light when, last year, Lewis was drunk in a pub. Mr Crowther said Lewis followed a boy into the lavatory and made an obscene request.

The boy complained to his family, the police were called in and the abuse of other boys came to light.

Throughout the trial, Lewis, who was nicknamed locally 'The Vicar' for his upstanding image, strenuously denied all the allegations and said he "utterly and totally refuted them".