A MAN with a mania for spanking little boys is terrorising a village.

He waylays the boys, tells them they have been naughty, and adds: "Take your punishment now or I'll call the police."

Then he makes them lower their trousers and thrashes them with a leather strap or a plimsoll.

In two years he has spanked dozens of boys near the village of Aston, Herts.

During the last seven days alone he has beaten six youngsters.

On each occasion the spanker has written the boys' names in a notebook.

Now the hunt for him has been stepped up, thanks to descriptions his latest victims have been able to give.

The boys, all aged about eight, have helped a police expert to compose a Photo-Fit picture of the spanker's face.

Yesterday a senior Hertfordshire detective said: "This man really lays into the boys. He has raised great welts on them.

Frightened

"We have every reason to believe that he may have spanked many others, but the boys were too frightened to tell the police or their parents."

The man is described as being between thirty and thirty-five years old, 5ft. 8in. tall, of heavy build with short brown hair and brown eyes.