THREE members of a paedophile gang who lured North-East boys across Europe with the promise of holidays only to subject them to horrific abuse have been jailed.

A father and son helped lure the children into the hands of abusers, who carried out and filmed sickening sex assaults, then forced some victims to watch footage on computer.

Police said the gang had been responsible for the systematic and pre-planned abuse of at least eight boys over a ten-year period.

The three were jailed at Newcastle Crown Court today after a police operation spanning three continents.

Peter Melling, a 58-year-old from Middlesbrough, received an indefinite jail sentence after pleading guilty to eight offences, including seven serious sexual assaults, and was told he cannot apply for parole for five years.

Builder Paul Anthony Bures, from Kent, pleaded guilty to two sexual assaults and possession of indecent photographs and was given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum term of four and a half years.

Derek Marshall, a 52-year-old from Carlisle, was jailed for five years for four counts of arranging the commission of child sex offences, while his 24-year-old son Graeme Marshall, from North Tyneside, was convicted of two counts of the same offence and was given a three-year probation order after the court accepted he had committed the offences under the influence of his father.

The offences came to light in December 2006 when one of the victims finally told his family.