'Despicable' sex offender tried to blame fake twin

Police said Andrew Sullivan's lies had been "unravelled by inquisitive parents"

A "despicable" paedophile who tried to cover up his crimes against young boys by blaming an imaginary twin brother has been jailed.

Andrew Sullivan, 32, of no fixed abode, told the lie after he was confronted in Lancashire last year by the children's parents.

They discovered Sullivan did not have a twin, and further found out that he had an existing Sexual Harm Prevention Order following a previous conviction.

Lancashire Police said Sullivan, formerly of Blackpool, was jailed for 12 years for rape, several sexual offences against children, and possessing indecent images.

Sullivan was also sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on 23 May for raping a child aged under 13 and sexually assaulting a child in the Kent area in 2007.

Detective Constable Sam Schofield said: "Sullivan is a despicable individual who committed abhorrent crimes against children."

Sullivan believed he was being "cunning" but "thanks to the inquisitive nature of the parents, his lies were uncovered and began to unravel".

The 32-year-old paedophile has been ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for life.

He will also be banned indefinitely from having unsupervised contact with children, and have his internet access limited.

Parents of Sullivan's victims had confronted him with concerns about his previous offending, Lancashire Police said.

He told them those crimes had been committed by his twin brother, who had since killed himself.

When the parents looked into Sullivan's claim and discovered it to be bogus, they reported him to police.

Detectives found Sullivan had sexually assaulted a young boy.

Officers also discovered more than 1,300 indecent images of children on his phone.

All were videos, with more than 700 classified as being of the most severe category.