by Keith Hunt

A pervert pensioner has been jailed for 17 years for sex abuse offences a judge described as "simply dreadful".

Wheelchair-bound Robert Garrott, 63, had already been recalled to prison to serve the remainder of an eight-year sentence for indecency.

Great grandmother Jane Twort, 65, of Drawbridge House, Maidstone, was sentenced to four years imprisonment after being convicted of child cruelty and causing or encouraging child prostitution.

Garrott, of no fixed address, denied three charges of rape and five of indecency with a child, dating back over 30 years, but was convicted in December.

He admitted indecency with a child involving another girl.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Garrott raped a teenager in the back of his car in Mote Park, Maidstone.

On another occasion Garrott was teaching her to drive, despite her being under age, when she drove his car into a barrier in the hope he would not attack her. But he still raped her.

Garrott, a former coalman, met the girls through CB radio. It was while he was being charged that he admitted abusing the second girl.

Twort, a mother-of-five, had sent young girls out for sex with older men in the early 1980s in return for payment in cash and kind. If the customer was not satisfied, she would arrange for the child to be caned.

Passing sentence on Garrott, Judge Charles Macdonald QC said: "The facts of the case are simply dreadful. It was a shocking breach of trust."

Both victims, he said, had been "blighted" by the abuse. One had found it difficult to form relationships and had prolonged mental illness.

There was no mitigation, apart from serious medical conditions. "Physical injuries do not prevent him serving a sentence in custody," said the judge,

Judge Macdonald said Twort had no insight into her offending, as she continued to maintain her innocence. There was no remorse or contrition.

Her case, he said, "did not come anywhere near" exceptional circumstances which would allow the sentence to be suspended.

The judge added that having to sentence Twort under "old law" prevented him from passing "adequate punishment".

Both Garrott and Twort were banned from working with children and their names will appear on the sex offenders’ register for life.