A gardener has been jailed for five years for raping two young girls when he was a teenager.

Paul West, 45, sexually abused the children in a cellar, draping one across a clothes line before attacking her, Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday.

One terrified girl was asked if she "wanted any pennies" before West locked her in a room and raped her.

West, of no fixed address, was branded "manipulative and predatory" by Judge James Stewart QC.

He said the council gardener had done psychological harm to his victims. He had shown no remorse and perceived himself as a victim.

"The psychological harm you caused is immense. You groomed them and sexually assaulted them," Judge Stewart said.

West pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two charges of rape and one of indecent assault. The court heard they represented a course of conduct.

Prosecutor Neil Clark said West was 14 when the abuse began. The offences were now more than 20 years old and the two victims in their 30s and 40s.

One had suffered a broken marriage and needed counselling because of the abuse.

The court heard that one of the women told the police about the rapes in the 1980s but the investigation was not pursued.

West was eventually arrested in October 2005 and charged in March last year.

The judge placed West on the sex offenders' register for life and made a sexual offences prevention order against him.