THE mother of two girls suffering the emotional scars of being indecently assaulted has spoken of her relief that their abuser's appeal against his jail sentence was dismissed.

Steve Hartas, 31, of Thornton, near Pocklington, was sentenced at Hull Crown Court in March to three-and-a-half years in prison for five ofences of indecent assault.

He repeatedly preyed on the two girls, who were both under ten years old, causing the judge, Mr Justice Bennett, to describe his actions as "filthy behaviour".

Yesterday the Court of Appeal in London dismissed his appeal against the sentence.

The girls' mother is delighted at the decision but filled with dread of the day her daughters' tormentor is released.

The girls, now aged ten and seven, live daily with the trauma of what happened to them in incidents between December 1, 1998 and December 5, 1999, in a village near Pocklington.

She says her daughters did not report the abuse at first because they "thought it was normal".

Since then both girls have undergone counselling but the older one still sleeps in her mother's bed and is frightened of bathing or going to the toilet alone.

"My ten-year-old goes to school OK now but she still feels sick every day because of what has happened to her," said her mother.

"My seven-year-old has completely blocked him out of her head - that's how she deals with it, he doesn't exist.

"But I've got one daughter saying to me that she'd rather be dead than feel like she does.

"She used to lock herself out in the garden in the pouring rain and rock backwards and forwards on her rocking horse. Once I found her holding an axe and saying she wanted to kill herself."

The mum said parents and schools should be more open with children about sexual abuse to try to prevent others suffering the way her daughters have.

"My eldest daughter thought it was embarrassing.

"I don't think parents think it's necessary to talk about it to young children. I would never have thought about abuse until it happened.

"I've let my daughter read the stories about Sarah Payne and she thinks that everyone should know where paedophiles live. I think the same.

"There could be one in our village and we would never know, and I think it's wrong.

"You let your kids go out and you don't know who is lurking around the corners watching them.

"I don't think the Government takes any notice of the victims.

"My view is once a paedophile, always a paedophile. Although Hartas said he regretted what he did, that was a black lie.

"Why didn't he stop?"