A “monster” from Penparcau who subjected a young girl to nearly a decade of rape and sexual abuse, leaving her emotionally scarred for life, has been jailed for 20 years.

Before sentence was passed on John Peters, 79, at Gloucester Crown Court his victim - now in her 50s - told how she was robbed of her childhood by his offences and has never been able to shake off her feelings of shame and disgust.

“When I think about my childhood it makes me feel so sad, unhappy and angry,” she told the court.

She said she can never bring herself to trust people fully and she feels ‘broken and damaged’.

Peters, of Penparcau Road, who abused the girl in the late 1960s and 1970s from when she was aged 10, had denied six charges of rape and six of indecent assault but was convicted of all of them by a jury. The court heard the charges represented at least 21 incidents of rape and 21 of indecent assault.

The prosecution had told the jury the offences did not come to light until the woman went to the police in 2014.

Giles Nelson, for Peters, who claimed he had never laid a finger on her and that it was all lies, told the court that he will suffer in prison because he has arthritis, mobility problems and suffers from asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The judge said: “You have not shown the slightest contrition for your abject behaviour towards her. You started abusing her when she was about 10 and for at least the next six years you subjected her to the most demeaning behaviour.

“You showed no mercy back then - and you cannot expect any mercy now from this court."

He told Peters he will have to serve at least 10 years of the sentence.

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