A holiday resort entertainer who abused children after befriending them with his MAGIC SKILLS has been jailed for six years.
Ivan Russell, 42, targeted vulnerable families and gained their trust before exploiting their children for his own sexual gain.
The “predatory paedophile” abused four boys and one girl – aged between eight and 15 – while working as a magician at holiday camps across the UK over an 18 year period.
A court heard some of the youngsters were “in awe” of Russell – who used his magic skills to befriend and entertain them.
But he went on to abuse his victims by persuading them to perform sex acts after plying them with booze.
The offences – which took pace in Great Yarmouth, Lancashire and Northamptonshire – dated back to 1994 but only came to light in 2010 when one of his victims came forward.
In February Russell was convicted of 12 counts of indecent assault, one charge of indecency with a child and four charges of sexual assault on a child.
Last Friday, he was jailed for six years at Northampton Crown Court.
Russell will spend spend four years on licence when he is released from prison and will remain on the Sex Offenders’Register for life.
Jailing Russell, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, Judge Rupert Mayo said: “He is one of the most selfish individuals I have ever come across.
“My firm conclusion is that he poses an immediate and continuing danger to children.”
Speaking after the hearing, one of Russell’s victims, who cannot be named, said: “It is all over and done with, he is where he belongs.”
Detective Constable Lisa Miller, from Northamptonshire Police’s Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said the case had been “very difficult” for all the victims.
She added that police fear Russell may have abused other children and urged anyone who had any information to contact the force.
