A former governor of Canterbury Prison has been branded a “monster” after admitting abusing children.

Richard Horrocks carried out “horrific” sex attacks more than 30 years ago – including some at his prison house.

Now the 81-year-old former Marine, who served with the Special Boat Service, has been jailed for 15 years at Canterbury Crown Court.

Horrocks, of Sussex Gardens, Herne Bay, admitted six sex charges on three children and a woman on the day his trial was due to start.

One of his victims told Judge Rupert Lowe she had lost more than three decades of her life "to that monster".

She revealed how she was attacked by Horrocks in front of other people and she later confronted him by email.

She wrote: “Do you eva feel bad about the things u did 2 me?”

He replied: “Of course. I often feel like doing myself in.

“I am so sorry, it made me feel rotten. I know and I regret it from the bottom of my heart.”

David Howell, defending, told the packed court that Horrocks now faced the prospect because of his age of not coming out of prison.

Three of the victims gave statements to the police about the sexual abuse but Horrocks, who had initially admitted his crimes, then denied it and blamed the children for lying and making up the stories.

But Judge Lowe told him his response had been a typical “paedophile rationale” and had taken “the coward’s way out” by not admitting his guilt until he got to court.

“You have ruined the lives of your victims,” he told Horrocks.

Prosecutor Vivian Walters told how police were called in after one of the women reported the attacks, which happened in the 1980s.

“The victim explained that she had decided to make a formal report to police about the sexual abuse that she had suffered because she needed closure in her life,” she said.

“She explained that she needed to tell someone because she knew that what happened was not right.”

The victim, who sat in court just yards away from her attacker, told how she had attempted suicide when she was a young girl and turned to drugs to limit the hurt.

She also took a lie detector test to prove to people that she had not been lying.