New Delhi, Feb 4 (IANS): Disgraced former Labour peer Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham has been jailed for five years and six months for sexually abusing two children in the 1970s, BBC reported.

He was found guilty in January of a serious sexual assault against a boy and the attempted rape of a young girl.

The abuse happened in Rotherham when he was a teenager, Sheffield Crown Court heard, the report said.

Passing the sentence, Justice Lavender said his actions had had "profound and lifelong effects" on the victims, the report said.

The court heard Lord Ahmed, who was tried under his birth name Nazir Ahmed, attempted to rape the girl twice in the early 1970s, when he was aged 16 or 17 but she was much younger.

The attack on the boy, who was aged under 11 at the time, also happened during the same period.

The judge said the offences were "so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified".

He said: "Your actions have had profound and lifelong effects on the girl and the boy, who have lived with what you did to them for between 46 and 53 years.

"The statements which they have made express more eloquently than I ever could how your actions have affected and continue to affect their lives in so many different and damaging ways", as per the report.