A PAEDOPHILE who abused two young girls in Pembrokeshire has been jailed for 17 and a half years.

Dominic Dewick was found guilty of 20 historical offences against the girls between 1993 and 2017.

Following a four-day trial, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on each of the charges on August 4.

The court heard that one victim had been just seven years old when her abuse started, with it continuing until she was 15. The second victim was abused between the ages of nine and 12.

Dewick, 45, of Harrier Road in Haverfordwest, had denied all charges, maintaining that both girls had fabricated their evidence.

“I would never do anything like that,” he told the jury in his evidence.

“That was sick.”

Nicola Powell, prosecuting, told the court at trial: “This is a man in complete denial, who convinced himself that he'd got away with it, all those years ago.

“But now his past has come back to haunt him.”

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A statement from one of the victims was read out in court as Dewick was sentenced.

“I feel absolutely broken. A broken person inside and out,” she said.

“I was a child and very vulnerable when I was abused.

“What the defendant has done has had a massive effect on me.”

She described herself as being “constantly on edge” since reporting her abuse, and added that she struggled to sleep.

“When I do sleep, I have regular nightmares about the abuse,” she said.

“I just think he will walk in at any time.”

James Hartson, defending, acknowledged there was little mitigation he could put forward, except that Dewick had no previous convictions.

“That’s rather offset by the fact that you have been offending for most of your adult life,” Judge Paul Thomas directed at Dewick.

Sentencing Dewick, Judge Thomas said: “From when you were 15 until about the age of 39, you sexually abused young girls from when they were about seven or eight onwards.

“The impact on the lives of those two girls, now women, has been utterly profound.

“There is, I’m afraid, little to no mitigation that can be identified on your behalf.”

Dewick was jailed for four years for the abuse of the first victim, and a further 13 and a half years for abusing the second victim.

He will serve a minimum of two-thirds of the sentence in prison, before being released to serve the remainder on licence. Judge Thomas also imposed an additional two years extended licence period.

Dewick was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.