A man who raped two schoolgirls and tried to get one of his victims to miscarry after she became pregnant has been jailed for 16 years.

Paul Davey, of Lower Road, Sudbury, was convicted of more than a dozen offences following a trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

Sentencing him Recorder Richard Atchley told Davey: “Your conduct was simply barbaric. Frankly I found it hard to think of a more abhorrent course of conduct.”

During the 63-year-old’s trial the court heard he took advantage of the “vulnerable” young girls and “manipulated, dominated and groomed” them to be his sexual partners.

Davey raped both girls and took pictures of them in a wedding dress and in their underwear.

Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones said Davey bought one of the girls underwear, clothes and false nails and told the other one he loved her.

When one of the girls became pregnant Davey had allegedly given her a bottle of gin to drink and a crochet needle to use to induce a miscarriage.

When the girl did not succeed Davey was said to have used the crochet needle himself causing the girl pain and making her bleed.

The attempts to make the girl miscarry were unsuccessful and she later had an abortion. Tests carried out on the foetus showed that Davey was the father of the child, Miss Jones said.

Davey denied six offences of raping a girl under 16, four offences of indecent assault, and using a crochet needle with intent to procure an miscarriage.

He had also denied two offences of rape and two offences of indecent assault in relation to another teenage girl.

Some of the offences are alleged to have taken place more than a decade ago.

The victims went to the police in 2011 and 2012. When Davey was questioned about the allegations he denied sexually abusing either of the girls.