A 63-year-old Kent man has been jailed for 15 years for serious sexual offences.

Douglas Atkins was not in the dock to hear his sentence, having collapsed suffering an epileptic fit, and was carried to an area below Canterbury Crown Court before the judge finished hearing mitigation.

Atkins’ offences included rape and involved victims who Judge Adele Williams said had been left psychologically damaged.

In the dock with him, and jailed for 18 months, was his 38-year-old son Henry who was convicted of perverting the course of justice by writing a letter purporting to be from one of the victims saying the allegations were untrue. Both men lived Beaufoy Road, Dover.

Wheelchair user Douglas Atkins had denied a total of 23 offences, including indecency with a child, indecent assault and rape. Matters came to light when one of the victims went to the police. Atkins denied the allegations.

Jailing Atkins, Judge Williams said he had been convicted on clear and compelling evidence of serious crimes.

Judge Williams said: "Worse than the physical damage was the psychological damage and, having heard them in evidence, in my judgement, in different ways, each is a damaged personality."

Mitigating for Douglas Atkins, Peter Gower, QC, drew the court’s attention to his poor health.

Peter Forbes, for Henry Atkins, said it was a misguided but poor attempt to help his father and there had since been a falling out between the two because Henry Atkins didn’t give evidence in the trial.

Douglas Atkins will be on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

At the end of the hearing, Judge Williams praised the officer leading the investigation saying it has been wide ranging and thorough.