A Hampshire paedophile jailed for 25 years for sex offences spanning more than 50 years has died in prison aged 83.

Ronald Dean was convicted of 25 counts including rape, indecent assault and perverting the course of justice.

Dean was pronounced dead at Albany Prison, on the Isle of Wight.

A Prison Service spokesman said Dean was believed to have died from natural causes.

He was pronounced dead in the prison healthcare wing.

The spokesman added that the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will cary out an investigation.

Dean was jailed at Southampton Crown Court for 25 years after being convicted of 24 sex allegations that involved seven youngsters aged three to 16 years old.

Jurors heard how he bribed his victims with gifts, sweets, money and even alcohol to satisfy his insatiable lust and ensure their silence.

One girl was so badly traumatised by her ordeal she took an overdose.

Dean repeatedly abused another girl and a third was told not to tell anyone anything how he had defiled her, not even when he was dead.

However, his sordid past eventually came to light when one victim had the courage to tell a nurse at school who in turn informed the police.

Dean, a great-grand- father, of Fryern Close, Chandler’s Ford, was convicted after a three-week trial of all 24 sex charges levelled against him as well as one of attempting to pervert the course of justice by trying to persuade one victim to drop her allegations.