Paedophile Tommy Dance is appealing to have his 21-and-a-half year sentence reduced at the Royal Courts of Justice, in London. Dance was jailed in August 2010 after admitting a string of sex offences against underage girls.

Convicted Budleigh Salterton paedophile Tommy Dance is today, Thursday, pleading for his jail sentence to be reduced.

Adrian Dance, known locally as Tommy, of Queens Road, will appear before the Royal Courts of Justice, in London, to ask a judge to reduce his 21-and-a-half-year sentence for a string of rape and sexual offences against underage girls.

Married Dance, who used to live in Pines Road, Exmouth, was jailed in August 2010 after admitting he was a paedophile – pleading guilty to raping an underage girl, indecently assaulting two girls, committing acts of gross indecency with children and indecently touching an underage girl.

Detective Constable Mike Chalmers, from Exmouth, said: “He’s going to court to appeal against the length of his sentence.

“He pleaded guilty to 14 counts involving all six victims, so he’s clearly a danger to society and will be for some time.

“We continue to maintain contact with the victims and support them in any way they feel appropriate.

“Whatever the outcome, justice has been done and he will be in prison for a long time.”

Dance was jailed by Judge Graham Cottle at Exeter Crown Court.

Last summer, the court heard how Dance silenced his young victims by threatening to kill them if they reported him to the police.

The bench was told how the paedophile, then 54, used a mixture of fear, threat, violence and manipulation to rape and sexually abuse young girls.

The court was told how he preyed on young girls over three decades – repeatedly raping a girl in the 1980s and subjecting four others to a series of horrific and sordid sex crimes – including the abduction and rape of a 14-year-old.

When passing a 21-and-a-half-year sentence down to Dance, Judge Graham Cottle told the paedophile he had committed a ‘gross breach of trust’ against children.

The judge said: “The consequences for your victims are they are left to survey the misery of their lives as a result of what you did.

“The psychological harm of your victims is what you would expect - immense - and a substantial custodial sentence would properly reflect the seriousness of your crimes.”