A teacher who dubbed himself the 'Salford Stallion' as he slept with three of his high school pupils has been jailed for six years.

Christopher Drake, 29, committed a "classic breach of trust" in having sex with the girls he taught at a school in Atherton, Greater Manchester.

At Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Judge Timothy Mort told Drake he received his "comeuppance in spectacular fashion" when two of the girls discovered he was two-timing them, which led to his arrest.

It emerged that Drake had been having sex with both his students since they were aged 14 and had also slept with a 16-year-old girl he taught at Hesketh Fletcher Church of England High School.

Drake, of Monton, Salford, was initially employed as a PE teacher before he was promoted to temporary assistant headteacher in June 2009.

Judge Mort told the defendant: "The critical factor is the age gap. You were 12 years older than them. That is a considerable age gap. You were a young man, quite immature, but there was a classic breach of trust in having relationships with pupils which you knew you should not be doing."

The two girls who had the surprise meeting at Drake's flat on Valentine's Day last year had both been seeing him for more than 12 months. Drake had sex with one of them in the school sports hall and in his office, while he had sexual encounters with the other in a pub car park and on a school trip.

On Monday, prosecutor Justin Hayhoe said a slanging match began when one of the girls entered Drake's unlocked address. The girl who went to the flat threatened to call the police and ran outside to alert neighbours as Drake told her to "shut up, shut up" and attempted to grab her and calm her down, he said.

When police arrived, they discovered the property had been specially staged for a romantic evening, with rose petals on the floor and balloons adorning the property. Drake's mobile phone was seized during his arrest and it contained recordings of both girls having sex with the defendant.

The defendant admitted at an earlier hearing to numerous counts of sexual activity with a child, sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust, and making and possessing indecent photographs of a child. He was sentenced to three years each in jail for the sexual offences involving the two girls who he started seeing from the age of 14. He received concurrent terms for the remaining offences.