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A former care home worker has been jailed for 24 years for abusing three girls between 1975 and 2007.

John Davies, 61, was sentenced at Mold Crown Court after being convicted of four counts of rapes, three indecent assaults, two gross indecency charges, and two charges of sexual assault.

One girl came forward in 2012 as part of an inquiry into allegations of past abuse in the north Wales care system.

The National Crime Agency's has led to 13 convictions.

Davies, of Abergele Road in Colwyn Bay, warned the girls that if they reported the abuse no-one would listen to their story.

"Like many child abusers, Davies controlled and manipulated his victims into thinking his relationship with them was normal," said National Crime Agency (NCA) senior investigating officer Philip Marshall.

"He groomed his victims at ages where they were too young to understand they were being harmed."

Resigned

One victim, who was raped by Davies in 1986, told investigators she met with him outside the care home - mostly at local pubs - because he continually promised to take her to see her family.

When the promise finally materialised, he took her to a pub where he bought her alcoholic drinks and raped her in the car on the way to her family's home.

He later resigned from his role at the care home.

NCA officers became aware of two further victims - not in the care system - as its investigation continued.

One girl was abused by Davies between the ages of eight and 11 in the mid to late 1970s at his home, and at least once at his workplace at an amusement arcade.

The third victim was sexually assaulted and raped by Davies in May 2007.