A DEPRAVED cabbie has been sentenced to nine-and-a-half years behind bars, after pleading guilty to 20 charges of indecently assaulting young children over almost 30 years.

Graham White, 54, who used to work for Allied Radio Cars, in Chelmsford, was contracted by Essex County Council to drive youngsters in both Colchester and Chelmsford.

The offences, which occurred in the Seventies and the Nineties, involved five young people, including his sister Alison Chester, 44, who has waived her right to anonymity to speak about the abuse she endured.

The other four victims were male.

Sentencing White at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Ian Graham said: “Offences against children, and young teenagers, are always very serious. In the case of children, it’s literally robbing them of their childhood.”

The case was brought after White’s sister Alison, of Shillito Close, Colchester – now a mum of four – contacted an old friend who had also been abused, via website Friends Reunited.

Judge Graham said: “This case has the additional shocking factor attached to it, as the child was your own sister. Although the abuse was of a minor nature, even such a minor assault can leave lasting scars.”

White, of Chelmsford, pleaded guilty to 20 charges and was sentenced to a total of more than 40 years. However, he will be imprisoned for a maximum of nine years and six months, as many of the charges will be served concurrently.

He will also be placed on the sexual offenders’ register for life.