A PAEDOPHILE who preyed on vulnerable girls has had his jail term slashed by three years.

At the Court of Appeal in London on Wednesday three judges accepted Lucas Irons’ plea to reduce the sentence, cutting it from 10 years in custody to seven.

A jury of six men and six women unanimously convicted Irons of two counts of sexual activity with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual assault in October last year.

At his trial Oxford Crown Court had heard how the Abingdon man had targeted the youngsters, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to satisfy his own ‘sexual ends’ between July 2014 and January 2015.

At his sentencing on November 1 at the same court Judge Peter Ross branded the 29-year-old from Ock Street dangerous and condemned him for his ‘calculated and pre-meditated’ offending.

He said that Irons was ‘out of control’ and had used ‘networks of young girls as a means of targetting them for your sexual ends.’

As well as the 10-year jail term he also handed Irons an extended licence period of four years, warning the defendant he may have to serve all of his sentence in jail.

At the Court of Appeal Judge Martyn Zeidman QC, Lord Justice Treacy and Mrs Justice May reduced the sentence to seven years in custody, but kept the four years extended licence period to be served consecutively.