A vile pervert who preyed on three child victims has been given a 20 year sentence.

Mitch Tomkins, 43, used an alleged illness to wheedle his way into the lives of the girls from Ashford.

At his trial at Canterbury Crown Court, the former soldier tried to claim the children – one just five years old – had lied.

But the jury rejected his claims and convicted him on 12 sex abuse charges – after he refused to give his doctor's permission to reveal details of the alleged medical condition.

Now Judge Simon James has jailed him for 16 years – and ordered an extra four years be served on licence when he is finally released.

He told Tomkins, from London, it had been a "quite deliberate and systematic" abuse after gaining the trust of the victims.

The former squaddie had then groomed the vulnerable victims to enable him to live out his twisted sexual desires.

Judge James said it is impossible to know what emotional damage he had caused the children, who were forced to give evidence at his trial.

He added: "Whether you ever had a medical condition remains a matter of some conjecture, bearing in mind your refusal to permit the release of your medical records and the complete absence of any expert evidence.

"But whether your condition was real or not matters little because you clearly utilised it as a way of getting to the children.

"The jury saw through that as a vain and desperate attempt to avoid the consequences of your unnatural sexual attraction to children."

The judge added that Tomkins' continual denials revealed he has shown no genuine remorse.

Tomkins, who pleaded not guilty to 12 offences, was also barred indefinitely from working with children or staying in a house where children live without meeting strict guidelines.

He will be eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of the 16 year term but, even if successful, would be subject to the nine year licence.