A PAEDOPHILE who sexually abused a schoolgirl when she was aged between 13 and 15 has been jailed.

Roger Light, 68, from Monmouthshire, admitted two counts of indecent assault and was found guilty by a jury of a further two charges of indecent assault.

During his sentencing, the defendant’s victim, now a woman, referred to him as a “monster” during her moving personal statement at Cardiff Crown Court.

Read by prosecutor Roger Griffiths, it said: “This will affect me until my dying day.

READ MORE: School secretary to pay back £22k she stole – or face 12 months in jail

“It’s never going to be OK.

“I feel hurt, so hurt. Why did it happen to me?

“This man has ruined my life.”

She added: “I worry about the children out there who are being abused. I cry for them.

“My life will always be filled with fear.

“I am broken but now maybe I can fix myself.”

Light, of Wern Gifford, Pandy, near Abergavenny, committed the offences during the 1980s.

His barrister Andrew Taylor said in mitigation that his client was a man of previous good character with no convictions recorded against him.

He told the court that the defendant was someone who had always worked and continued to work at the age of 68.

Light was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1980 and has suffered long-term damage to his joints, the judge was told.

The court heard he played a part in organising equestrian events in the community where he lived.

Mr Taylor added: “He’s apologetic about what’s happened.”

Recorder Paul Lewis QC told Light: “Your victim has given an eloquent and graphic account of the consequences or your actions.”

Referring to the defendant’s pre-sentence report, he said: “Your self-justification for what you did is deeply unattractive.”

The judge emphasised to the court that he was bound by the sentencing guidelines that existed at the time of the offences.

He said the maximum prison sentence he could impose was two years whereas it was now 14 years under the new guidelines.

Light was jailed for 20 months.

He was ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years and was barred from working with children.