A man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for historic sexual abuse offences.

Philip Watson, now 60 years old, sexually assaulted three schoolboys on separate occasions during the 1990s.

The abuse was committed in the Northumberland and Sunderland areas when he was employed as a teaching assistant.

The offences were reported to have happened on the school bus and in the school showers, as well as at a summer camp organised by a school.

Watson, of Beach Road, South Shields, was found guilty of all four offences following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

On August 27, he attended the same court and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Watson was previously jailed for six years in 2017 after committing a string of child sex offences against three other boys linked to the same employment role.

Those charges included five counts of indecent assault on a male, one sexual assault and one sexual assault on a child under the age of 13.

As part of his previous sentence, he was ordered to spend the rest of his life on the Sex Offenders’ Register and was handed a lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Two subsequent investigations around Watson’s offending were launched when three further victim-survivors came forward to report the same type of abuse.

He was interviewed by officers in connection with the new allegations, but denied any form of wrongdoing.

However, in July 2024 and then again in January last year, Watson was charged with a total of four counts of indecent assault – being that the offences took place before the Sexual Offences Act was introduced in 2003.

He will remain on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and his lifelong SHPO will continue to be in place.

Leading the investigation from Northumbria Police was Police Constable Colin Ramshaw, who said after the sentencing: “The effects of Philip Watson’s offending have proven to have lasted a lifetime for the victim-survivors he abused.

“Even though these offences occurred decades ago, it’s clear the damage he has caused has not diminished with time.

“Watson has consistently refused to take accountability to what he did to these boys – now men – and I am pleased that they’ve been able to hold their abuser to account after all this time.”