A convicted paedophile who raped a schoolgirl and two other children died of natural causes while in prison, a coroner has concluded.

Patrick Mugford was jailed in May 2022 after assaulting and raping the Canterbury pupil two decades earlier.

The attack left her so traumatised she ended up drinking three litres of cider a day "to black everything out" while partially living on the streets.

Mugford, who was 68 and living in Cornwall when arrested, later told security staff in the dock at Maidstone Crown Court: "I'm going to die… " as details of his late-night attack were outlined.

Speaking during his sentencing, prosecutor Allister Walker told jurors: "When she told her mother what had happened the morning after the incident she was scolded.

"She bore the shame of the incident alone for 20 years."

The victim had told officers how she was asleep when she heard someone enter her bedroom before attacking her.

Mugford was convicted in 2012 for raping two children, but it was only in 2019 when the third victim reported the attack after reading a report of his convictions.

Mr Walker said the teen was able to identify her attacker because his skin was "scratchy and scaly".

The Judge, Recorder Patricia Hitchcock QC, told him he had attacked a vulnerable schoolgirl.

He was later jailed for seven-and-a-half years for the rape and indecent assault.

However, barely 18 months after serving his sentence Mugford died in prison at HMP Littlehey, Cambridgeshire on December 17 last year.

The 69-year-old died in hospital from aspiration pneumonia - an infection caused by inhaling food or liquid into the lungs.

This was caused by bilateral multiple cerebral infarctions, or strokes on both sides of the brain, which occur because of disrupted blood flow, which, in Mugford's case, originated due to his Type 2 diabetes.

Following an inquest on June 13, a coroner concluded Mr Mugford died of natural causes.