Canterbury Crown Court, where Kearney was sentenced to jail

by Paul Hooper

The profound words from a child to Desmond Kearney have come back to haunt the vile paedophile.

She told her sick sex attacker: “You will go to jail for this!”

The 66-year-old Ashford man replied: “Not if you don’t tell anybody!”

But the courageous child did tell police officers – and now Kearney, of Church Road, has been sent to prison for 10 years for a string of attacks on two victims.

And he has been banned from working with or having unsupervised access to any children under 18 years old for the rest of his life.

Prosecutor Francesca Levitt told how Kearney had abused the children - including making one of them perform a sex act.

After his arrest, he denied the claims – but the following day, he drove around the Ashford area debating whether or not to commit suicide.

Canterbury Crown Court heard he eventually handed himself in at a police station and confessed what he had done.

Ms Levitt said the predator made five statements to officers – trying to claim his pre-pubescent victims had initiated some of the sex acts.

“He was given police bail but the next day he was reported as missing in the early hours of the morning. He then voluntarily attended the police station and said he felt suicidal and admitted that he had been lying earlier.

"what he did will quite rightly be deplored by the courts and by the public, but he is remorseful" – michael bisgrove, defending kearney

“But throughout he has sought to minimise his involvement,” she added.

The parents of the victims later told officers the "tormented little victims" had suffered “horrific trauma” by their abuser and one described it as “a living hell”

Michael Bisgrove, defending, said: “What he did will quite rightly be deplored by the courts and by the public, but he is remorseful.

“On the day of his arrest when he was bailed he went out driving. He drove for a very long time and the reason was that he was mulling over his options. The options that presented themselves to him was to hand himself in or, to put it bluntly, to kill himself.

“This is a man who found his behaviour come crashing down on him with devastating effects. He returned to the police and confessed.”

The Judge Recorder Bobbie Cheema QC told Kearney, who admitted the 10 indecent assault and rape charges,: “You caused serious harm to your victims, who you groomed and corrupted and you bear full responsibility.”