'Vile' Burnopfield rapist who abused young girls jailed

Joseph Stewart was described in court as "vile" and "sickening"

A "vile" paedophile who raped and sexually abused girls as young as seven has been jailed for 21 years.

Joseph Stewart, 56, had denied nine offences against two victims but was found guilty by jurors at Newcastle Crown Court.

His victims said he had destroyed their lives and was a "vile person" who "deserved" the same pain he had caused.

His Honour Judge Tim Gittins said the abuse was "sickening" and Stewart had shown "not one iota of remorse".

'Petrified'

The court heard Stewart's first victim was seven years old when he first touched her sexually in around 2001 with the abuse escalating to rape over the following two years.

She reported the abuse in 2003 but was not believed with a police investigation not leading anywhere, the judge said.

In a statement read to the court, the woman said she was a "a very vulnerable young child who should have been living a carefree life full of laughter and love", but Stewart "ended" her childhood.

She said she felt "scared and confused" and believed she was to blame, adding she was now "petrified" of men and had issues with drugs and criminal offending as a result of the abuse she suffered.

Joseph Stewart was jailed at Newcastle Crown Court

"His actions have moulded me into an angry and untrusting person with little care about myself or others," she said.

Despite the "warning shot across the bows" from the abuse being reported, or perhaps "emboldened" by its failure to lead to a prosecution, Stewart then targeted his second victim in 2011, the judge said.

The court heard he kissed the 13-year-old and attempted to rape her before being interrupted.

'Unhealthy interest'

The woman read a statement to the court in which she said Stewart was a "vile person" who made her "skin crawl",

"I want him to suffer like I have had to suffer," she said, adding: "I have been given a life sentence of pain and hurt, he deserves the same."

Stewart, of Albion gardens in Burnopfield, County Durham, appeared in court via video link from HMP Durham and could be seen smirking and shaking his head as the statements of his victims were read to the court.

The court heard Stewart maintains his denials of any of the offences with the judge saying he "arrogantly" complained throughout the six-day trial that the victims had "concocted" the story and "conspired" against him.

"You have continued to demonstrate no remorse whatsoever," the judge told Stewart.

The judge said Stewart was convicted for sexual offences against a girl aged under 16 in 1991 when he was in his early 20s and had shown an "unhealthy interest in young girls" and would "remain a danger to young females for some time".

He was jailed for 14 years with a further year on extended licence for offences against the first victim and seven years against the second to be served consecutively.