A man who raped a 14-year-old girl and sexually abused another has been jailed for 15 years.

Emil Dopson, 60, of the Keep, Kingston upon Thames, attacked the teenagers when he was living in Wisbech during the late 1990s.

One of the girls contacted police in 2012 to report the offences and Dopson was traced to an address in Surrey.

He was arrested and charged with a catalogue of offences including rape, indecent assault and gross indecency with a child.

He sent an e-mail and letter to the victims’ relatives, in a failed bid to get them to withdraw the allegations.

Dopson denied the charges but was convicted of 12 offences including two counts of indecent assault, two counts of gross indecency with a child, two of causing actual bodily harm and perverting the course of justice, in relation to the letter, after a trial in December last year.

He returned to court earlier this month for a re-trial on the rape and an indecent assault, which the jury had failed to reach verdicts on at the original trial.

Dopson was convicted of the rape but acquitted of the other charge. He was jailed at Cambridge Crown Court yesterday.

Detective Constable Amanda Sylvester said: “Dopson is a violent man who preyed on young girls. He has shown no remorse for his actions and has continued to deny the offences, forcing the victims to relive their ordeals in court.

“One of the victims has told me she feels that she can now finally put this part of her life behind her and start to move on.

“Dopson is a sexual predator and clearly a danger to others. He now faces a lengthy period behind bars.”