A middle-aged Warminster man abducted two 15-year-old schoolgirls, taking one of them away for the weekend to caravans he owned near Exmouth.

Divorcee Nicholas Adams, 46, operated an 'open door' policy for children at his house in Silver Street, a judge sitting at Swindon crown court was told.

Adams, who had originally denied the charges, pleaded guilty last week to two counts of abducting a child. A third similar charge was dismissed after the prosecution offered no evidence.

During the trial, one of the mothers of the girls told the jury how she and another mother called the police after their 15-year-old daughters went missing for a long weekend after going off with Adams.

The girls, who cannot be named for legal reasons, went to his home on a Thursday evening in July last year and one of them did not make it home until the following Monday morning.

On the first night, father-of-four Adams provided wine and vodka for the two girls, as well as another two teenage girls and one of their boyfriends.

When the mothers called at the house, no one answered the door and when the police went round later the same night, Adams said: "I don't have any information to offer", even though he had taken the girls to another of his homes just hours before.

The four girls and Adams then spent the night at a house in Timbrell Street, Trowbridge, before one of the two involved in the charges was taken home the following morning. The others all had permission to be with him.

Adams took the three girls to Frome, where they spent the Friday night, before they drove to Devon.

Simon Morgan, defending, said: "It is extremely important that everyone understands that the children wanted to be there. No impropriety beyond the elements of the offence was involved.

"We are not talking about a man who in any shape or form is seeking to cause any harm to these children."

Sentencing him to one year's probation and ordering him to pay £250 costs, Judge Paul Barclay said: "This is not a case where you took them away from their parents and they did not want to be taken from their parents, or you wanted to do them harm either psychologically or physically.

"You were extremely naive and misguided. I suspect you are a wiser man than you were last year."