A SCOUT leader who sexually abused teenagers for more than two decades while posing as pillar of the community has been jailed for 15 years.

David Burland, 54, a leader of the 1st Burnham-on-Sea Scout Group, was convicted of 33 sexual offences against children under the age of 16.

He subjected three boys and a girl to abuse between 1987 and 2010, threatening them to stop them speaking out.

Burland was sentenced at Taunton Crown Court yesterday after being found guilty a week earlier at the end of an eight-day trial. After the 15-year sentence has finished Burland, of Ramsay Way, Burnham, must serve a further six years' extended licence period, which means that he can be returned to jail immediately if he offends again at any time before he reaches the age of 75. He will also be added to the sex offenders register and has been disqualified from working with children for life.

Sentencing Burland, Judge Graham Hume Jones said he had betrayed the trust of young people, their parents and the community.

He said: "During the course of the trial evidence was given of the defendant grooming these young people, in certain cases giving them alcohol, showing them pornographic films, distancing them from their parents by suggesting their parents didn't love them and making threats if they told anyone."

The judge told Burland he was imposing the extended licence as he would still be a risk to young people on his release from custody.

Burland, a former Royal Navy chef, had denied the charges, forcing witnesses to give evidence.

Judge Hume Jones said "no one could fail to be distressed" by statements from victims describing the impact of Burland's offending on their lives.

The Scout Association said Burland had been suspended from all involvement in the organisation from the moment the police investigation began and would never again be involved.

In a statement the association said: "It is a tragedy when an evil-minded adult abuses the trust placed in them as a leader."

Detective Constable Mark Fudge, of Avon and Somerset Police, paid tribute to the victims, saying: "I applaud them all for the strength it must have taken to come forward. He hid behind his role as a Scout master and hoped people would not report him."