A MOTHER today claimed her family had been denied justice after her daughter's sex attacker was jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Mark Hayhurst was found guilty last week of abducting and indecently assaulting two girls, aged seven and eight, within days of each other in the Bank Top area of Blackburn last August.

The judge at Preston Crown Court who sentenced 33-year-old Hayhurst, of Mansfield Street, Audenshaw, said young girls needed protecting from him.

But the mother of the eight-year-old said she left court angry that Hayhurst would be released in a few years, while her daughter had to live with it for the rest of her life.

She said since the attack her daughter had suffered nightmares and wet the bed, and refused to leave the house or be left in the company of men -- even her grandad.

"I hope she will get over it, even if I know she won't forget it," said the mother, "but now we will try and put it behind us.

"The sentence wasn't good enough. I would have liked to have seen something a lot longer, possibly ten years. This doesn't seem like justice, he will be out in a few years.

"She's been lost and hasn't been the same since it happened -- I feel like I cannot let her out of my sight now."

The girls, in unconnected incidents, were taken to a derelict house after being asked to help look for a lost dog. They were indecently assaulted in the back back yard.

Hayhurst, who worked as an environment manager in Manchester, carried out his attacks while visiting the area.

Following his arrest, police found a pair of one girl's knickers in his briefcase. A pair of trainers gave a likely match to footprints left at the scene.

Hayhurst, a former soldier who left the forces to be a security guard at Blackburn College, alleged both had been planted by police.

Michael Blakey, defending, said Hayhurst, who had always maintained his innocence, was left devastated by the verdict.

Hayhurst was also placed on the Sex Offenders register for ten years.

The officer in charge of the case, Det Sgt Paul Murphy, said "I am personally relieved that Mr Hayhurst has been sentenced to a substantial prison term.

"The length of the prison sentence imposed was a matter for the judge and it would be improper for the police to comment on it."