AN OUTDOOR pursuits instructor who manipulated and molested two young girls while working in Lyme Regis has been jailed for two years and banned from working with children. Exeter Crown Court heard how Colin Stevens, 53, formed relationships with the girls and ended up having regular sex with the youngest when she was just 13. He met them through his work as an instructor for the old St Albans outdoor pursuits and education centre in Lyme Regis. Ordering Stevens, who had been a teacher for 27 years, be put on an extended three year licence period on release from prison, Judge Graham Cottle told him: "At the times these offences were committed you were in a position of trust. You exploited both these girls and manipulated situations so you could take advantage of them. "I am concerned about the continuing risk you might pose to children if you were to have direct contact with them or be placed in a position of trust again." Stevens pleaded guilty to 12 counts of indecent assault. He denied a charge of rape, and his pleas were accepted by the Crown. Prosecutor, Adam Vaitilingam, said the offences were committed between 10 and 12 years ago. The first girl was 15 when she met Stevens, then 41. He struck up a friendship with her and began kissing and touching her. She would go away with him, telling her parents that other children were going on the trips. It ended when she developed a relationship with someone else. He later met the 13-year-old girl and came onto her in a similar fashion after breaking down in front of her about his failing marriage. He began sexually abusing her, taking her to woods at Seaton and Honiton to commit sexual acts. When he first had sex with her, the girl said she was terrified and was crying so much he covered her mouth with a cloth. When interviewed by the police, Stevens, of St Andrews Well, Bridport, said he thought the younger girl wanted to have sex with him, and was honoured to be her 'first'. "That was his warped view of his relationship with her," said the prosecutor. Mitigating, Geoffrey Still, said his client deeply regretted the fact the girls were saying they did not want to take part in the activities 10 years on. "He wants to make it plain that the relationship with the girls was one of respect." Mr Still said Stevens went off the rails after his marriage broke down and he witnessed the Lyme canoeing disaster in 1992 when four people were killed. * St Alban's was sold in 1998 to Lymegate, which now runs the centre as the Woodberry Down activity and field studies centre. No-one currently working at the centre knew Mr Stevens.