A rapist who sexually abused two young girls when he was still a schoolboy was jailed for six years on Friday.

Connor Adams repeatedly preyed on the child victims from when they were aged five and instructed one girl not to reveal his behaviour towards her.

A judge told Adams, now 25, at the High Court in Edinburgh: "You have been convicted of very serious offences committed by you when you were aged between 12 and 16."

Judge Thomas Welsh KC said Adams had told jurors at his earlier trial that the children he abused were "wicked liars" but was disbelieved.

The judge said that he acknowledged the damage caused by Adams' offending as detailed in a victim statement by the girl who was raped.

He said Adams was a first offender who committed the crimes as a young person and there appeared to have been no recurrence of such behaviour.

But the judge told him he was satisfied that the offences were so serious because of their nature, the ages of the young children, the harm caused and the frequency with which they were committed that a non-custodial sentence was not an option.

He told Adams: "Had you been an adult when you committed these offences a sentence of 12 years' custody would have been justified."

The judge said that taking account of his age at the time of the crimes and his lack of maturity he would restrict the prison term to six years.

He told Adams, formerly of Viewmount Crescent, Strathaven, in South Lanarkshire, that he would be placed on the sex offender's register indefinitely.

Adams had earlier stood trial at the High Court in Lanark where he was found guilty of sexually assaulting both girls in South Lanarkshire between 2011 and 2014.

He pulled down the lower clothing of one child and molested her and on one occasion put a hand over her mouth and raped her.

He also put a hand over the mouth of the second girl and put her on his lap and sexually abused her.

Defence counsel Wendy Culross told the court that Adams was "understandably very anxious" at the prospect of receiving a prison sentence.

She said he was very young at the time of the crimes but there had been no further offending since then.

The defence counsel said: "He does maintain he is not guilty of the charges the jury convicted him of. He has no other cases and no other convictions."

She said that sentencing guidelines for young people applied in the case and the court had to have regard to the intellectual and emotional maturity of Adams at the time the offences were committed.

Mrs Culross said: "While maintaining his innocence he does accept the offences of which he was convicted are extremely serious."