Briton jailed for sexually abusing street children in Gilgil

Birmingham Crown Court in the United Kingdom has put a charity boss behind bars for assault on vulnerable Kenyan street Children, between 2002 and May 2013.

Simon Harris, 55, will spend 17 years and four months in jail for sexually abusing boys after luring them to his luxury home using food, money and the promise of schooling.

The Guardian reports that Simon Harris, who ran an educational charity in Kenya, picked up boys in his Land Rover and took them to his home, known as the Green House, where he subjected them to terrifying and humiliating sexual abuse.

The BBC says Harris lived in a green-roofed bungalow standing on a five-acre plot on the slopes of one of Gilgil's hills. The area is quite remote and that probably explains how Harris was able to abuse his victims without being discovered.

When British police launched their investigation into his activities, 40 victims came forward alleging they had been abused. The court took evidence from 11 victims who testified via a video link during the trial.

Harris, also a former public school teacher has been described by The Telegraph as a prolific and calculating sexual predator

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Harris, from Pudleston, near Leominster, in Herefordshire, was convicted after trial last year of three indecent assaults and five sexual assaults, with one victim thought to be as young as nine. He was also found guilty of four charges of possessing indecent images of children.

According to The Telegraph, Harris, who sat in the dock at Birmingham Crown Court wearing a suit and tie, did not once look up as the sentences were read out to him by Judge Philip Parker QC.

Judge Parker told Harris he was obviously "intelligent" and "charismatic", traits that had given him a "veneer of respectability", but that he had used this to conceal a "self-centred arrogance".

"You assumed a hallowed position among the locals," said the judge. "You were revered as someone who could provide the gift of education.

"You were answerable to no-one - and once again you had access to boys."

The judge added that Harris's charity work in education meant "no one batted an eyelid" when he washed boys, and allowed youngsters to sleep in his bedroom at the remote home he owned on the outskirts of the town of Gilgil.