A REDDITCH engineer has been jailed for eight years after a court heard he repeatedly abused two teenage girls.

Christopher Marklew, aged 69, of Danzey Close, admitted a total of nine allegations of indecent assault against his victims, who are now grown women.

One of the women read her victim statement to the court, speaking behind a screen and saying that Marklew was an "opportunistic abuser".

She said that what he did to her left her with post traumatic stress disorder, suffering flashbacks and feeling "blank, worthless and used".

A statement from the other woman victim – read out in court by Siobhan Collins, prosecuting - said she had urges to self harm and suffered "despair, grief, isolation and depression."

Jason Aris, defending, said: "It’s very clear that this defendant is full of remorse for what happened.

"The acknowledgement of this disgraceful and disgusting behaviour is hard to live with."

Judge Robert Juckes QC told Marklew: "You are now very nearly 70 and you are a broken man – a man who in every other respect has led a constructive life and has done well in business as an engineer."

The judge said Marklew would spend at least four years in jail before being allowed out on licence.