Ex television weatherman Fred Talbot has been sentenced to five years in jail for sex attacks on two underage boys during his time as a teacher at Altrincham Grammar School.
Fred Talbot
The 65-year-old shamed former TV personality was convicted this February of indecent assaults, but cleared of eight other charges of indecent assault following a three-week trail in Manchester's Crown Court.
Police said that his victims' childhood have been "destroyed" by his crimes, said to have taken place during trips in 1975 and 1976.
Talbot denied having anything to do with the abuse of young boys aged 14 to 17, but was found guilty of two counts relating to assaults carried out on canal boat trips when the boys were aged around 14-years-old.
He was sentenced to two and a half years for each offence, which will run consecutively, and was told he must serve at least half of his sentence before being considered for release on licence.
As he passed sentece, Talbot was told by Timothy Mort that his jail term would immediately start bearing in mind his "abuse of trust".
He said that Talbot had "deliberately and indecently assaulted the two of them for your own gratification", addressing him and saying the offences he was convicted for weren't isolated incidents.
"You had, on other occasions, abused your position to offend. You calculated the boys would be too confused, guilt-ridden or embarrassed to disclose what happened."
The judge added that the abuse had affected both victims, one of whom has since suffered from mental health issues.
Following Talbot's sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Graham Brock said the convicted had "plied boys with drink and orchestrated situations to be alone with his victims, in order to indecently assault them to feed his own sexual desires".
"You can imagine the excitement of a teenage boy setting off on a canal trip with friends and a teacher, who he should expect to look after him, only to return with his childhood destroyed.
"Put simply, these offences reflect an abhorrent abuse of trust by a man proven to have no regard for the innocence of youth he was employed to nurture."