Brave Jessie Donovan told yesterday how she brought the evil stepfather who ruined her life to justice.

Wilfred Smedley, 62, was jailed for life at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday for a string of appalling sex offences against children 20 years ago.

The court heard that he would have got away with his crimes if Jessie had not been determined to see him pay.

She has bravely thrown off the cloak of anonymity afforded all sex attack victims to tell how she acted to save other children from Smedley's clutches.

She kept her silence for years, afraid of the effects her revelations would have on her family.

But then she began to suspect that he was abusing children in Gambia, where he had flown to begin a new life as a guesthouse owner.

Jessie, 31, decided to go to the police and had him extradited from the African country to face a British court.

Smedley, formerly of Stanley, County Durham, admitted rape, attempted rape, seven counts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child. All charges related to children that he had encountered during the 1970s and 1980s.

Jessie, who now lives in the Midlands, attended court to see Smedley led away to begin his sentence, which carries a minimum recommendation of seven years.

The court heard that he had served a previous four years in jail in 1969 for sex assaults on four young boys.

Jessie explained why she bravely agreed to forego her right to anonymity in order to expose evil Smedley.

She said: "The only reason I have done this is because I want everyone to know that he is an evil man and that he has been found guilty.

'We have got justice and that is all that matters."

The mother-of-three said: "I hate the man, I have always hated him but at the same time I pitied him."

Brian Mark, mitigating, said: "I want to make it clear there is an acknowledgement of the wickedness of his acts and its effects on each of the victims."

Sentencing Smedley, Mr Justice Langley said: "Your record of offending, the persistent and truly degrading nature of abuse of your victims and their ages all establish that you are a serious menace and danger to young people and that will be so for an indeterminate time to come.

"This court would be doing less than justice requires if it did not impose a life sentence on you."