'Evil' former serviceman from Market Drayton jailed for 18 years for sickening sex offences
A former serviceman described as a "monster" has been jailed for 18 years for several sickening sex offences.
Christopher Brake, 50, of Market Drayton, was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court for a total of nine offences.
Brake had been found guilty of six offences after a trial earlier this year, including three counts of sexual assault, two counts of voyeurism and one charge of making indecent photos of a child.
He had already pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault of a child.
Simon Parry, prosecuting, told the court that Brake's crimes had left his victims suffering "nightmares".
He was described in harrowing terms as a "monster" and an "evil creature".
Brake's own barrister, Robert Edwards, said the defendant accepted he was going to receive a "substantial period of imprisonment" for his crimes.
The court heard Brake had served in the Army and had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but Judge Anthony Lowe said the diagnosis offered no excuse for his actions.
He said: "I of course acknowledge that within your lifetime you have served your country and I probably do not need a psychiatrist's report to tell me that those who served and witnessed the horrors of war have been greatly affected by it. Therefore I have no doubt that part of your problems result from that and the PTSD you have suffered from.
"But that really just does not explain the sexual offences."
He added: "It makes plain a lot of other things but it does not explain that."
Brake was given multiple sentences, totalling 18 years in prison with one year's extended licence.
He will be made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order on his release, and added to the sex offenders register.