A CONVICTED paedophile who sexually abused girls aged five and six has died while serving a nine year sentence for his crimes.

Stephen Wade, formerly of Wolfenden Street, Astley Bridge, was sentenced at Bolton Crown Court in September 2018, for three counts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child.

Wade’s crimes dated back to 1999 when he was living in Farnworth with the court hearing how he kept a bouncy castle in his back garden which he would fill with soapy water and use to attract children onto his property.

An inquest held at Bolton Coroner’s Court heard that Wade, 60, died on April 26 last year after developing pneumonia as a result of suffering from lung cancer.

At the time of his death he was serving his sentence in HMP Forest Bank in Salford but the court heard died in Salford Royal Hospital where he had been admitted two days earlier.

Lorraine Downey, a clinical reviewer working for Spectrum Community Health CIC , who provide health care in the prison, said in a report prepared for the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, that Wade had been admitted to Forest Bank after already completing a course of chemotherapy.

In August 2018, scans revealed a growth in the size of a tumour on his lung which had spread to other areas of his body and Wade was given just six months to live.

Ms Downey concluded that Wade had received “good palliative care” before his death.

Wade’s wife, Victoria Wade, told the inquest they had married in 2015 and had a son.

She said it was a “happy marriage” and described Wade’s love of angling before adding that he “did not take to prison life well”.

Coroner Rachel Syed recorded a conclusion that Wade died of natural causes.