A ONE-LEGGED paedophile - who was freed because a cell could not be found to accommodate his wheelchair - was finally behind bars today.

Anthony James, 45, was found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault and one of gross indecency with a child at Leeds Crown Court last year.

But he was allowed to return home after officials at Armley Jail in Leeds said they could not find a suitable cell for him.

His horrified victims condemned the decision, while the judge demanded an investigation into why a prison had not been found before the hearing in February.

But James, of Cleckheaton, was yesterday sentenced to six years in jail after a number of alterations were made to a cell in Armley. He was also put on the sex offenders' register for life.

The court heard that James, who lost a leg in a car crash, used his disability to gain sympathy from the three girls he went on to abuse over a 15-year period.

James only stopped abusing one girl when he was jailed for a driving offence, then he targeted her eight-year-old sister when he was released.

The three victims, now 28, 23 and 21, went to police over a decade after the last attack.