A ‘VILE’ paedophile who raped and sexually abused a young girl has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars.

Dean Paul Hill was jailed after a jury found him guilty of a total of 14 sexual offences.

Hill, 31, of King Street, Weymouth, had been on trial at Dorchester Crown Court for 13 sexual offences over an eight-year period relating to the same young victim.

At the time the offending began the girl was just seven years old.

Hill denied five charges of raping the girl, indecent assault, two counts of indecency with a child, assault of a child under 13 by penetration, three charges of sexually assaulting her and causing or inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity.

He also denied a 14th charge of sexually assaulting a woman in February this year.

Hill stood with his head bowed as the jury foreman delivered the verdicts.

He later broke down in tears as Judge Roger Jarvis sentenced Hill to a total of 13 years for the offences relating to the young girl and a further two years for the sexual assault relating to the woman.

The jury heard during the course of the trial how Hill began abusing the girl at a young age and, apart from allegations of indecent behaviour in 2002 that she subsequently withdrew, she kept quiet because she felt threatened by the defendant.

She told the jury that the offending began when she was seven and when she was around 13 Hill would force her to have full sexual intercourse with her.

After the verdict was revealed Christopher Parker, representing Hill, admitted: “So far as the facts of the offences are concerned there is no mitigation which can properly be advanced in this case.”

Judge Jarvis also placed Hill on the Sexual Offenders’ Register for life.

He told the defendant: “You have been convicted by this jury of the vilest of offences stretching over a period of seven or eight years, including at the worst the rape of this little girl.

“You caused her physical pain, never mind the emotional distress that she will carry throughout the rest of her life.”

The judge added: “For all of this, it is plain that you must go to prison for a very significant period of time.”

Speaking after the case Detective Constable Ed Meanwell, of Weymouth CID, said: "I am just really pleased for the victim’s family because I know how much this conviction will mean to them.”