A convicted paedophile raped a Canterbury schoolgirl as she was sleeping near her newborn baby – but she had to wait 20 years for justice.

The teenager reported the attack immediately but was not believed and had to endure two decades of pain and hurt before a jury convicted her attacker.

Now Patrick Mugford has finally been jailed after hearing how his victim was so traumatised by the attack she ended up drinking three litres of cider a day "to black everything out".

Mugford, 68, from Cornwall, sat in the dock of Maidstone Crown Court whinging to security staff: "I'm going to die..." as details of his late night attack were outlined.

Prosecutor Allister Walker told how the victim was lying next to her baby, who was asleep in a Moses basket, when she was attacked.

"When she told her mother what had happened the morning after the incident she was scolded," Ms Walker told jurors.

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

It was only when she saw another court report about her attacker's crimes in 2019 she called the police.

The victim told officers how she was asleep when she heard someone enter her bedroom and climb in bed telling her: "Come on, you know you want it."

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

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

Now he has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years for the rape and indecent assault.

In her Victim Impact Statement read to the court, she said when she wasn't believed she ran away and lived for a while "on the streets", downing three litres of cider a day to cope.

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She told how she was once found in a coma after a suicide attempt.

But the brave mother added she is now determined the attack will not have a negative impact on the rest of her life.

The court heard Mugford is partially deaf and suffering from diabetes and has a history of having strokes.

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