A photograph of sadistic sex beast Jeremy Smith in a KM Group newspaper has helped solve two unreported attacks going back 34 years.

The picture of the 54-year-old from Charing was published last year

when he received a 27-year sentence.

It was seen by a woman who then telephoned detectives and told them: “He was the man who raped me!”

The victim – who was attacked in the 1980s – later told officers: “In May 2013 I opened the Kent Messenger newspaper to see a photo of a man who had been convicted of sexual attacks.

“My life was turned upside down when I saw that photo of him.

"I knew that he was the person who had raped me when I was very young!”

After police re-opened their enquiries they were then able to trace another victim who gave them a statement of her ordeal, also in the 1980s.

Last night DS Matt Banks praised the courage of both women for coming forward to report the vile and violent attacks.

He said: “I’d like to praise the courage of the victims for coming forward following their ordeals which, although took place some time ago, still affect them to this day.”

Smith, of Pett Lane, Charing has now been handed a life sentence after he admitted the rapes, sex assaults and beatings.

It will mean that - together with the sentence for the previous 14 sex attacks – he will have to serve 14 years before he will be considered for parole.

And when he is eventually released from jail, he will be on licence for life and can be recalled to prison for any further serious violations.

Last year we told how four victims had been subjected to a series of sex and physical assaults, including some victims being pinned to the floor while Smith slaked his thirst for violent sex.

And it was that report which was seen by one of the two women who recognised him as her violent attacker in the 1980s.

She revealed – in her poignant Victim Impact Statement read out at Canterbury Crown Court – how the attacks had changed her life forever.

She wrote: “I was young and quite innocent and very happy.

"But after he attacked me my life changed. I started sleeping without opening my
window. He made me afraid of the dark.

“The best way I can describe the effects of the attacks on me is to compare it to a scar that you may get when you cut yourself.

“Once it has healed there is always a physical reminder to what has happened.

“My wounds cannot be seen because they are mental wounds which can never properly heal... no-one can see the scars I have.”

She told how her mental wounds can be opened “by a loud bang, or by a power cut when I think he may be coming back to get me”.

She continued: “Just thinking about what he did to me and how he has hurt me and how my personality changed as a result of what he did to me...

“I have lived with that fear for years until I saw his face in the paper..and the scars and wounds have been re-opened because they never truly heal.”

After the sentencing for the brutal attacks on two women, Det Sgt Banks added: “Smith is a violent, sexually aggressive and controlling man who overpowered these women and subjected them to horrendous and frightening ordeals.

“He poses a very real threat to any woman.”

"My wounds cannot be seen because they are mental wounds which can never properly heal... no-one can see the scars I have” - one of Smith's victims

The investigating officer also praised the work done by colleagues DC Andrew Jones and Lenny Johnson for their “dedication to this long-term investigation.”

Judge Heather Norton told Smith: “After the earlier trial when I jailed you for 21 years with a six year extended sentence, two women came forward to make allegations of more sexual assaults.

“They were offences involving gratuitous violence, leaving one of your victims feeling degraded and ashamed by what had happened.”

The judge told how Smith had dragged her by the hair before subjecting her to “an appalling and horrific biting attack” which caused her complications a quarter of a century later.

Smith, who had admitted five new charges, sat passively as details of his vile attacks were outlined by prosecutor Eloise Marshall.