A SEX beast was branded "depraved and remorseless bully" by a judge as he was locked up for seventeen-and-half years today.

Sean Johnstone was caged for a catalogue of sickening abuse against two women, who were in court to see him start his sentence.

Johnstone, from Hartlepool, was told by Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC: "What you did was to target these two vulnerable women."

The disabled father-of-five was found guilty of all of the 28 charges he faced during a six-day trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Johnstone's two victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were forced to relive their harrowing ordeals during the trial.

They tearfully told the jury how he beat, a used and raped them in his home where he nailed windows shut and locked doors.

One of them was threatened with a knife when she refused to take part in a degrading sex act with the pervert's Rottweiler.

Johnstone incredibly told the jury that the claims "disgusted" him and said he was incapable of doing some of the things alleged.

He claimed a degenerative illness he suffered from was so debilitating that he would have been unable to carry out the attacks.

The jury also heard how police found child abuse pictures and extreme pornography on three computers in his home after his arrest.

The panel of six men and six women took just 90 minutes to reject Johnstone's lies and convict him of multiple rapes and assaults.

Prosecutor David Brooke told the court that some of the images showed animals - including dogs and pigs - involved in sex acts.

Johnstone, of Wharton Terrace, Hartlepool, was also ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life by the judge.

Judge Bourne-Arton told him: "The jury heard disturbing and distressing evidence.

"Whilst they had difficulty, perhaps, in considering the extent, they had no difficulty accepting their evidence and utterly rejecting your evidence.

"It is clear from your evidence that you had little or no appreciation of the extent of that which you did, nor any care for the consequences."