A PENSIONER dying of cancer was jailed for up to 16 years yesterday for a campaign of rape and sexual assault on two young sisters.
John Atkinson (66) filmed himself performing the acts against the children, Belfast Crown Court heard.
Mr Justice Hart told him he would have spent longer behind bars if he had been in good health or had not pleaded guilty to the 57 charges.
Atkinson, from the seaside village of Millisle, Co Down, is wheelchair-bound and has lymphoma, leaving him with a life expectancy of about 10 years.
Without the mitigating factors, the judge said the sentence would have been not less than 22 years.
Nevertheless, the judge added: "As he is 66 and the median period of survival is about 10 years, it is reasonable to infer that the lymphoma will have some effect upon his life expectancy, and that most of the rest of his life will be spent in prison."
Atkinson bowed his head and covered his face with his hand throughout the hearing.
He started abusing the sisters when they were aged 10 and seven respectively, after befriending their parents. They had allowed the girls to visit him in his house and go away on overnight trips with him from 1998 to 2001.
Mr Justice Hart said Atkinson's offences constituted a gross betrayal of the trust placed in him by the parents.
The victims, now aged 20 and 16, have been left mentally scarred by their ordeal, the judge added.
He said an assessment by a psychologist found that the older sister still suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and clinical depression. The development of her self-esteem and sexuality had been impaired. She also finds it hard to trust people.
Her sister suffers from moderate post-traumatic symptoms and mild clinical depression.
Atkinson began abusing the elder sister, referred to as girl N in court, before her sister - girl S.
He pleaded guilty to 13 counts of rape against girl N, seven indecent assaults, taking six indecent photographs of her and three offences of gross indecency.
He began abusing the younger sister when he started taking her on swimming trips and began touching her in the changing cubicle. This soon escalated to more serious sexual assaults.
He pleaded guilty to two charges of attempted rape against girl S, six indecent assaults and five offences of taking indecent photographs. He also confessed to 14 counts of making separate indecent images of children in 2007.
Atkinson's desire to film his behaviour had proved his undoing, the judge said.
"Because when N and S felt able to make complaints about the defendant in April 2007, a search of his home by the police revealed a large quantity of photographs and video film on which his sexual activities with these girls were recorded."