A paedophile rapist who made a victim place her hand on a Bible and warned her she would die and go to “Hell” if she revealed his abuse, has been jailed for 29 years.

Judge Niclas Parry at Mold crown court told David Holland, aged 56, of Prestatyn, that he’d shown a “chilling lack of empathy” in his evidence.

Prosecutor Anna Pope said in 2015 he made contact with an adoption agency about adopting a child. Holland’s attitude towards children was “one of contempt.”

Defence barrister Simon Rogers said Holland had no previous convictions and would be an old man when released.

He’d been convicted after a trial and following some guilty pleas of a catalogue of rapes and indecent assaults involving two young girls, making a death threat, distributing and making child porn. The offences spanned more than 20 years.

Holland’s victims had suffered “terror and pain” with one being gagged during her “sickening” ordeals and a knife also being held to her throat, Judge Parry said. He’d sent a photograph of a burning doll to cause fear.

The defendant had filmed his abuse and distributed images worldwide.

The judge said Holland had the expertise to encrypt images. “The full extent of your abuse may never be known,” he declared.

Judge Parry described it previously as “amongst the most chilling and serious cases that I have had to deal with in 21 years.”