A sex offender who “blighted” the lives of three girls died four years into a 24-year jail sentence.

John Pearson was thrown behind bars in May 2018 after admitting 20 historic offences, including two of child rape.

He reportedly manipulated, molested and raped the girls before telling them they wouldn’t be believed if they went to the police.

They stayed silent for years, but his crimes finally emerged, and he was jailed for more than two decades.

Pearson, a prisoner at Holme House jail in Stockton, died in hospital on October 24, 2022 following a stroke, a report published this week said.

An investigation by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) said Pearson, 66, had “several long-term medical conditions” including COPD and leukaemia and began to lose weight four months before his death.

He was taken to hospital in early October 2022 where a large bleed was discovered on his brain and doctors said he had just weeks to live.

Prison staff tried to get Pearson, a grandfather, released from jail on compassionate grounds as he had “possibly hours or at most a few weeks to live”, but probation staff “refused to engage” and he died before an application could be completed, the PPO report said.

His family were allowed to be present at his bedside when he died and the taxpayer paid towards his funeral costs, in line with national guidelines.

An inquest held earlier this month before Teesside Coroners’ Court concluded he died of natural causes.

When he was jailed, The Gazette reports a judge told him: “The acts you forced upon them perhaps defy any sort of reasonable comprehension.

Recommended reading:

Get more from The Northern Echo with a digital subscription. Get access for 3 months for just £3, or get 30% off an annual subscription with our latest offer. Click here.

“We may never know what damage you inflicted upon them and the full extent of the misery you caused.

“You’ve blighted their lives.

“You have over most of your life led a seemingly normal life. Your victims have not.

“The time has now come, Mr Pearson, when you are to be punished for the offending, even offending which occurred so long ago.”