A MUSIC teacher was jailed for eight years yesterday for drugging and sexually abusing young boys over a 16-year period.

Geoffrey Kitchen whipped, beat and blindfolded many of his victims, in a case described by the judge as one of the most depraved he had come across.

York Crown Court was told how the 48-year-old teacher met the majority of his victims in Scarborough and gave the youngsters sweets, gifts and money.

He would persuade them to take music lessons at his house where the "systematic abuse" would begin, the court was told.

Kitchen, of Scalby Way, Scarborough, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to 20 offences of indecent assault or gross indecency with a child. The offences, which involved boys aged between nine and 15, began in 1986 and ended in 2002, when he was arrested.

He denied seven charges of drugging the children with intent to commit offences on them.

The teacher admitted administering the drug amyl nitrate but claimed it was to heighten the boys' pleasure rather than to coerce them. His explanation was accepted by the prosecution.

In jailing him, Judge Paul Hoffman said Kitchen was still a risk to the public and a lengthy custodial sentence was his only option.

Kitchen's claim that the abuse to which he subjected the children was a "manifestation of his affection" was "scarcely credible", said the judge.

Kitchen's barrister, Andrew Murray, said his client was full of remorse for his actions and he had spared the youngsters coming to court by pleading guilty.