A PERVERT sports coach who ruined the lives of seven young boys has had his jail term cut by senior judges on appeal.

Michael Green molested a string of boys, some as young as 12, when he was a respected ice-hockey, motorcycle speedway and cricket coach across Sussex.

But the 75-year-old led a double life as a sex predator, the London Appeal Court heard.

In September he was convicted of 17 indecent assaults at Lewes Crown Court, and was handed a 12-year jail term.

He had previously served a nine-year sentence from a conviction for similar offences in 2014 and was released after serving four-and-a-half years.

But after last year’s conviction, an appeal was heard into the length of his sentence, as 21 years in total was deemed “manifestly excessive”. So after a hearing yesterday, judges cut the 12-year sentence.

The publicity from his first trial led police to investigate further reports of sex attacks on boys.

Detective Constable Dawn Robertson said: “It is clear that throughout that period of the 1980s and 1990s he was actively involving himself in different types of sports coaching. This gave him access to young and often vulnerable young boys who he systematically abused.”

At his hearing in London, Mr Justice Martin Spencer said Green had denied all his crimes and put his victims through the trauma of testifying against him in the witness box.

He used pornography to groom the innocent youngsters, taking them to watch films with sex scenes before getting into bed with them.

The judge said: “For many of them the abuse had had a disastrous effect on their lives, prospects and happiness.

Blighted

“Many of the victims suffered distress when giving evidence and had their lives substantially blighted by Green’s activities.”

The judge, sitting with Lord Justice Irwin and Mr Justice Holgate, said Green could normally have had “no complaint” about his sentence.

They noted he had not taken the chance to “clean the slate” by telling police about his other crimes.

But because he had been recently released before his trial, the judge said the overall sentence of 21 years for all his offences would be “manifestly excessive”.

Green, formerly of Aldrington Close in Hove, had his 12-year term cut to ten years.