A Ramsgate man has been jailed for 15 years for carrying out a string of child abuse offences dating back as far as 1990.

Judge Adele Williams told Brian Dubey, 67, that he had robbed the victim of her innocence.

Dubey, of Princess Margaret Avenue, had denied six indecent assaults, two assaults and two rapes against a young girl but in April a jury at Canterbury Crown Court unanimously found him guilty of all 10 offences.

The victim told the court that Dubey had carried out the abuse and had raped her.

He had also hit her and she said she was frightened of him. But Dubey told the jury that the abuse had never taken place.

Dubey had previous convictions, which included dishonesty, possessing cocaine and LSD, possessing cannabis with intent to supply and possessing a .22 rifle with a shortened barrel and 42 rounds of ammunition.

Simon Taylor, defending, said Dubey suffered from persistent ill health which would make his prison sentence harder for him.

He said after the offences had taken place Dubey had a life-changing accident and Mr Taylor told the judge: “The person you are sentencing today is a very different person from the one who committed these offences.”

In addition to the jail sentence Dubey was given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and will stay on the sex register indefinitely.

Two charges of possessing extreme pornographic images on April 26, 2013, which Dubey denied, will lie on the file.