A CHILD abuser is facing a long jail sentence after he was trapped into making a video recorded confession by the mother of his three victims.

Barry Midgley was found guilty yesterday (Wednesday) of molesting the three sisters at his home in Okehampton after the jury at Exeter Crown Court were shown the smartphone footage of the confrontation.

Midgley abused the girls in bedrooms and a garden shed at his home over a 13 year period when the girls visited him.

Their mother only found out the truth once they were grown up and went with one of them to Midgley's home to accuse him.

She made a secret video recording on a smartphone which proved to be vital evidence against him. He started off by denying everything but finally accepted what he had done and offered to apologise.

Widower Barry Midgley, aged 67, denied 20 charges but was found guilty of one attempted rape, seven indecent assaults, and six offences of sexual activity with a child.

He was remanded in custody by Judge Phillip Wassall and told he faced a very long jail sentence.

The judge said: 'You have been convicted by the jury of extremely serious sexual offences which will carry a very long custodial sentence.

'The sentence will have to reflect the incredibly serious offending which has had a profound effect on the victims.'

He adjourned sentence until Midgley's barrister Mr Mark Jackson can prepare a plea of mitigation on his behalf.

The girls' mother became suspicious after overhearing him making inappropriate comments in 2013 and went to his home to accuse him of abusing her three daughters.

Midgley told the jury he had never done anything inappropriate sexually to any of the girls and that his apparent confession recorded on the mother's phone was not true.

He said he had met the girls regularly at two locations in Okehampton and they had never mentioned their allegations before.

He described their claims as 'all this nonsense'.

Midgley said he was browbeaten into agreeing with the mother's allegations when she came to his home with one of the girls in November 2013.

He said: 'It really upset me.

'I did not know if I was coming or going. I could not believe they were saying these things.

'I did not know what to say. I kept saying "no, no, no".

'In the end I said "okay", just to get rid of them.

'I did not say it because it was true. I knew I had not done it.

'It felt like they wanted to pin something on me and put me away and that upset me.

'When I apologised that was me saying "for God's sake, I'll accept anything you want, just go".

'It was not me admitting it.'