内容摘要：Lucy Tapper, also defending, said Mr Keen, who is 82, had sustained a brain injury and his poor health, including the combined effect of Brexit and Covid, made it difficult for him to recruit more workers.

Lucy Tapper, also defending, said Mr Keen, who is 82, had sustained a brain injury and his poor health, including the combined effect of Brexit and Covid, made it difficult for him to recruit more workers.

"They texted me to say someone had been stabbed and that they were being kept in a locked room."I'm just waiting for them to get out."

After an agonising several hours, having been told the situation had been "contained", the pupils were finally allowed to leave.Parents were reunited with their children at last, while those unable to be collected were ushered onto coaches and ferried home.“It’s been a long day,” said one mum called Melanie as she hugged her son Lex.

Another, named Bex, said she was "relieved" the whole thing was over.Some of the pupils were also described as looking "shell shocked" by the experience.

“Others are wired because they don’t know how to respond this this kind of thing, said Becci Howell, who works as a supervisor in a nearby bakery.

“It’s been a stressful day but, as happens in small communities like this, people tend to come together."The court heard that the victims have suffered PTSD, flashbacks, psychological distress, mental health challenges and seizures as a result of the abuse.

McIlvenny had claimed that he himself had been the victim of exploitation by a man identified as 'CS' and that he had brought his friends in to help him by getting them to supply images to CS.However the judge said there was no evidence he had been blackmailed or coerced rather that "it is hard to think of a case of higher culpability".

"He blackmailed his victims and was prepared to coerce a 14-year-old boy for his own gratification," the judge said."He took them to his lair of deprivation with lies, exploitation and threats. He took full advantage of their youth and vulnerability for his own gratification."