April 2008 Caged sex beast found dead in jail cell A CONVICTED sex beast jailed for 12 years after admitting carrying out sickening attacks on young women has been found dead in his prison cell. John Hepplewhite Cairns, of Winskell Road, South Shields, was discovered by prison staff at HMP Frankland on March 16. It is believed the 73-year-old died after suffering from cancer and police are now trying to trace his family. It is thought he has a sister Cairns was jailed in 2001 after he admitted having sex with a seven-year-old girl and indecently assaulting another at his bedsit in the 1980s and 1990s. Newcastle Crown Court heard how he had already served a 10-year jail sentence after he attempted to rape one woman and tried to strangle another during street attacks in 1966. His campaign of terror began in 1953 when he indecently assaulted his first victim. Aged 66 at the time of the offences on the two young girls who were then aged seven and 11, the court was told how he would “engineer” situations at his bedsit so he could be alone with his victim. Cairns had been due to stand trial for charges of rape, indecent assault and indecency with a child, however, he pleaded guilty to indecent assault, indecency with a child and unlawful sex with a girl under 13 He was jailed for 12-years with a further five-year period of supervision. He had also been ordered to sign the Sex Offender’s Register for life. Anyone with information is asked to contact coroner’s officer Pc Natalie Griffiths, of Durham Police on             (0191) 375 2818       Febuary 2001 Man jailed for sex with girl, aged 7 A CONVICTED sex attacker who preyed on women for almost half a century has been jailed for 12 years. John Cairns had already served a ten-year sentence after he attempted to rape one woman and tried to strangle another during street attacks in 1966. He committed his first offence in 1953. Cairns had been due to stand trial at Newcastle Crown Court in January on charges of rape, indecent assault and indecency with a child. But the Crown Prosecution Service accepted his guilty pleas to indecent assault, indecency with a child and having unlawful sex with a seven-year-old girl. Cairns, of Winskill Road, South Shields, on Tyneside, was jailed for 12 years, with a further five year period of supervision to follow. Defence barrister Christopher Gumsley admitted Cairns had “beliefs which are wholly sexually deviant”, but said he wanted to address those issues in prison. Cairns be on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life