Veteran broadcaster Stuart Hall has been sentenced to 15 months in prison after he admitted indecent assaults on 13 girls.

The 83-year-old former 'It's A Knockout' presenter was told by a judge that those who had admired him in his career now know there is a "darker side" to him.

Earlier, harrowing details of the sex abuse suffered by his victims - including one who was aged nine at the time - were described at Preston Crown Court.

The prosecution told how a 13-year-old victim was assaulted after they had played tennis, when he is said to have told her: "Sometimes thank you was not enough in words."

He told a 10-year-old girl to cuddle him "like she would one of her teddies" after he had given her steak and champagne, the court heard.

A 15-year-old girl was abused in Hall's dressing room at the BBC, prosecutors said.

A 13-year-old was assaulted while she was drunk and unwell at a family party and described the attack as a "frenzied maul".

He preyed on a nine-year-old girl while she was in bed.

Another victim, who was 17 at the time, was attacked while dressed as a cheerleader for the filming of 'It's A Knockout'.

Initial denials

Hall was branded a child abuse "predator" by prosecutors following his guilty pleas last month. He initially told police his victims were lying as part of a "vendetta" against people in the public eye.

When arrested last December over three claims of indecent assault, he described the allegations as "nonsense". He told an officer one of the complainants was "a complete and utter liar".

Hall, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, issued an impassioned on-camera denial of any wrongdoing but he went on to admit 14 indecent assaults on 13 girls between 1967 and 1987.

The initial publicity around his arrest led to other women coming forward, including a 22-year-old who said she had been raped by Hall in the 1970s.

The rape charge was denied by Hall and has been left on file. Hall's defence barrister told the court his offences were at the "less serious end of the scale".

He said Hall's life was "unblemished" in the years since the offences, and statements were submitted about Hall's charity work.

His barrister, explaining his client's TV work, said he had "brought laughter to millions" and that if he were jailed, he might die in prison.

Judge Anthony Russell, sentencing, said there was a degree of planning and premeditation in some of the assaults and while credit had to be given for the guilty pleas, he criticised Hall's initial "brazen" attitude when charged.

He said that along with Hall's public declaration of innocence would have added to his victims' distress.

The judge said: "Several of these cases reveal an abuse of power by you because your status gave you an influence and standing which you abused."