A MAN aged 64 was jailed for seven years yesterday for child rape - and his lawyer said that he had already been punished by nature.

Paedophile Cameron McIvor, of Darlington, suffered a stroke after his three girl victims exposed him to the police.

He appeared at Teesside Crown Court with his body twisted, and hardly able to pick up his walking stick.

His barrister Rod Hunt said: "Upon the allegations being made he suffered a severe haemorrhage leaving him disabled for life, and so that is part of his punishment.

"Not even the most avid follower of capital punishment would wish to inflict brain damage upon an offender.

"He is going to be a massive expense on the state. This is going to be a difficult sentencing exercise when he has already been punished by nature."

A jury found McIvor, of Shakespeare Road, Darlington, guilty of three rapes and six indecent assault charges on the girls, aged eight to 12, over five years from 1989 to 1994.

Judge Tony Briggs told him: "A substantial custodial sentence is inevitable. I have to bear in mind your medical conditions and your age, and I have to perform what is an extremely difficult balancing act."

The judge jailed him for seven years for the rapes and three years concurrently for the indecent assaults.

McIvor was also put on the Sex Offenders' Register for life.