A paedophile has been locked up more than 30 years after carrying out a series of child sex attacks.

Christopher Rawe, who has been profoundly deaf since birth, was said to have "fixed" on his victim in the 1980s.

Rawe repeatedly molested the boys, ignoring his pleas to stop, and was "almost begging" for time to carry out his deviant acts.

The pensioner, now 69, stood trial at Canterbury Crown Court in June this year but after the victim, described as a "stoic character", had given evidence and before cross-examination began, Rawe changed his pleas to guilty on four offences of indecent assault.

Rawe, from Ramsgate, returned for sentencing on December 20 where, as at trial, he was assisted by both a sign language interpreter and a deaf intermediary.

Prosecutor Paul Valder said the victim had kept the ordeal he suffered to himself for many years.

The court heard he would plead with his abuser to stop, telling him "not today please", only for Rawe to callously ask for "just a couple of minutes".

"It seems the victim simply lived with this into adult life until a date recently when he was contacted by police to ascertain whether he could assist them in a similar investigation," Mr Valder told the court.

"He couldn't but then the time was right for him to, as it were, come forward and tell police about what had happened to him at the hands of the defendant when he was a child."

Rawe, who has no previous convictions, was described as having lived an isolated life without much social interaction, and had himself witnessed and been the victim of "sexualised behaviour" as a child while at boarding school.

In an attempt to explain the concerns raised in a pre-sentence report that the now convicted sex offender had no victim empathy or awareness, his barrister Kieran Brand said it was a consequence of his hearing impairment rather than "being blind to the effects" of child abuse.

"Both the sign language interpreter and the intermediary made it clear to me that empathy and sympathy are often missing for deaf people because of the large gaps in education and the large gaps in what they hear in everyday life," he told the court.

"I asked Mr Rawe 'Are you sorry?' and was quickly told it's nowhere near as simple as that. It was always going to be nigh on impossible to express his feelings at all, let alone to an experienced probation officer."

Mr Brand added that his client had "struggled in all spheres of life" as a child, and described his boarding school days as "a Borstal of sorts" with much inappropriate behaviour.

"That was plainly ongoing during his time there and while he maintains that there is no underlying sexual interest within him in children, that will perhaps provide a partial explanation for the behaviour he displayed towards his victim," he said.

Of the inevitable prison sentence, Mr Brand said it was uncertain as to whether the defendant had "fully taken on board" what was to happen to him and the difficulties he would face while in custody.

Jailing Rawe for four years and nine months, Judge Mark Weekes praised the victim's courage, saying his childhood was "wrecked" by the abuse he endured.

"As is far from uncommon, he kept this to himself for many years and, as is his right, he has declined to make a victim impact statement so it follows I have no particular assistance into how this affected him," remarked the judge.

"However, the effects of child sexual abuse are notorious and well-known to the courts. All sexual abuse scars forever.

"That is the sad, inevitable and notorious feature of such offending and no sentence I can impose can bring back his childhood or restore his confidence or undo the harm you have done to him.

"On any view, your actions wrecked a significant part of his childhood. He was vulnerable, he was confused and frightened. He suffered in silence for years and yet for all that the final victory in this case is his.

"His courage in coming forward and giving evidence against you shows your abuse did not break his spirit. On the contrary, he can have the comfort of knowing his evidence has been accepted.

"He is to be applauded for his bravery. It would not have been easy for him."

Judge Weekes concluded although there was no grooming in the sense of buying gifts, Rawe had "fixed on him being a potential target”.

On his release, Rawe will be subject to indefinite sexual offender notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order. He will also be barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.