A paedophile former police officer has been jailed for 14 years after carrying out a string of depraved sexual assaults on a mother and her daughter, 25 years apart.

Child rapist Peter Kirk, 78, was jailed today at Guildford Crown Court for indecently assaulting a girl in the 1980s in Sutton when she was between 10 and 12.

25 years later, he went on to sexually assault and rape the first victim's daughter on multiple occasions when she was aged between six and eight.

He kept her silent by telling her the attacks were "their little secret".

Kirk, who was caught trying to flee the country on the first day of his trial, had worked as a police constable in Sutton, Cheam, Epsom and Banstead between 1958 and 1984, working in clubs and vice.

His crimes only came to light in by chance because the two victims, mother and daughter, were having a conversation about the vulnerability of children to sexual predators in internet chatrooms.

It led to the daughter revealing Kirk's attacks on her, which in turn reminded the mother of his own crimes against her that she had "locked away."

Sentencing Kirk, Recorder David Brock said: "You exploited and abused a trusting relationship."

"Your behaviour towards (the first victim) has left her emotionally scarred for life, your behaviour to the other may leave her scarred for life also."

Kirk, recently of Dorking, was found guilty of six counts of rape, and nine other child sex charges last month following a trial.

He had been on conditional bail, but had been remanded in custody since he was arrested at Gatwick airport on the morning his trial was first due to start.

It is believed, without a passport, he intended to catch a flight to Scotland.

He remained emotionless in the dock as Recorder Brock sentenced him to 14 years in prison.