Mark Hoddinott 58

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A man found guilty of a string of rapes, attempted rape and serious sexual assaults on three young girls has been jailed by for 13 years today by a judge who branded him 'thoroughly evil'.

Mark Raymond Hoddinott, 51, of Portland Place, Frome was found guilty of raping and attempting to rape a girl under the age of 13 and sexually assaulted a girl under 13, involving penetration, at Frome.

He was also found guilty of five counts of intentionally touching a girl under 13, and that touching was sexual, also at Frome.

The jury also found him guilty of being a person aged 18 or over and for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification, he intentionally caused a child under 13 to look at an image of a person engaging in sexual activity.

All the of the offences had taken place on various dates at Frome between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2011 and his youngest victim was under the age of six.

Sentencing him to a total of 13 years behind bars, Recorder Paul Garlick QC, sitting at Taunton Crown Court, told him the jury had found him guilty of the 'most serious sexual offences against highly vulnerable victims'.

He slammed Hoddinott for forcing his victims to come to court and give evidence against him, forcing them to relive their ordeals at his hands.

"I absolutely satisfied that your sexual abuse has had a serious and permanent effect on their lives from which they may never recover," he said.

"You have shown no remorse. You planned a long-running campaign of abuse against three victims."

Hoddinott was sentenced to 11 years for rape, four years for each charge of sexual assault, 18 months for gross indecency, 13 years for attempted rape, seven years for assault by penetration, five years for two counts of sexual assault against a child and two years for causing a child to look at sexual activity.

Recorder Garlick said the total of the sentences added up to 'decades' in jail and that each offence was 'individually heinous'.

"This was thoroughly evil conduct," he told him.

But he added that given Hoddinott's age and the fact that he would not be released on licence half-way through his sentence, the sentences would all run concurrently.

He was sentenced to 13 years in prison, and will be on the sex offender's register for life.

He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order, and his victims were given a restraining order preventing him from contacting them.