THE response of a paedophile when confronted by one of this two victims was to send her an email in which he wallowed in self-pity.

The Carlisle Crown Court judge who passed sentence on former police officer Rodney Savage, who perpetrated some of his sickening sexual abuse in Carlisle, said he seemed more concerned with the impact on himself, not his victims.

Savage, 69, earlier pleaded guilty to six sample sexual assault charges, representing numerous occasions when he abused his victims, one being just six when it began and the other ten.

Prosecutor Tim Evans outlined some of the abuse, all of it too horrific to be described in any detail, and he spoke also of the devastating impact on the victims. It was when the two women met as adults and spoke about what Savage that done that the extent of the abuse came to light.

When confronted, Savage, who recently lived in Cyprus, sent a message to one of the women, appearing to plead with her for sympathy.

He wrote: “Everyone I have ever known will hate me. Everyone. That is no-one’s fault but mine if this becomes public... I cannot see a way through as literally every person I know will now or shortly literally despise me.”

He also spoke in the message of suicide, adding: “I literally can not be punished more than I have punished myself.”

When police quizzed him about the abuse, he accused his victims of lying, suggesting they were “doing it for money.”

Mr Evans went on to read from the victim impact statement that one of the women had made for the court. She said the abuse affected her throughout her life. She spoke of her deep trust issues and how this affected her relationships.

The woman added: “Physically, I freeze at the sign of any loud noises, yelling, sudden movements around me or surprising gestures... I feel a lot of hate inside.”

Olivia Beesley, for Savage, said the defendant accepted his guilt and this was something he hoped to address while he was in custody. “There is very little to be said that could compensate the victims,” said the barrister.

Miss Beesley said Savage had joined the Army after leaving school and when he was 18 he himself had suffered sexual abuse from older soldiers and this “affected him greatly.”

He understood that it was “truly abhorrent” that he had inflicted this on two young girls, having suffered it himself.

After leaving the Army in 1974, he joined the police force and almost immediately he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. But in 1987 he suffered a leg injury at the hands of a drug driver and so left the police.

He moved to Yorkshire to run a pub. “He was always a hard working man,” said the barrister.

Jailing Savage for nine years, Judge Nicholas Barker told him the email that he had sent to one of the victims could be described only as “a document of self-consumed pity,” focusing on how the offending affected his life and his pension.

“Nowhere in that email,” said the judge, "is demonstrated the impact that you knew your behaviour had caused those two young girls.”

Similarly, in his pre-sentence interview with a probation officer, Savage remained "obsessed" with his own misfortune. The judge put Savage on the Sex Offender Register for life and imposed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Savage, who will serve two thirds of his sentence before he can be released on licence, showed no emotion as he was led away.