An election official has been jailed for abusing two girls after he made a failed suicide attempt and left a note in which he admitted "I am a kiddy fiddler".
Retired banker Reginald Lawson assaulted the girls when they were aged between seven and ten and visited his home in Tiverton.
He told them not to reveal what he had done to them but one told her mother and the truth emerged after the police were called in.
Lawson, aged 67, is a retired banker and property developer who liked to be known as Beresford of Berry and was a well known charity worker in Mid Devon.
He was a tutor with the University of the Third Age and a leading member of a local Photographic Society in Tiverton.
Lawson had never been in trouble before and was a pillar of the community who helped a charity for blind people and worked as a polling clerk and polling officer.
He tried to deny the allegations but an apparent suicide note was found after he took an overdose of painkillers which said:"I have let you all down. I regret to say I am a kiddy fiddler."
Lawson, from Tiverton, admitted seven counts of sexual assault on the girls.
He was jailed for a total of six years and eight months by Judge Francis Gilbert, QC at Exeter Crown Court.
The Judge told him:"You say you were not attracted to the children but I find these offences were committed for your own sexual gratification.
"I can only hope that because they came to light reasonably early it may be possible for the girls to recover sooner rather than later from the serious effects."
Mr Adrian Chaplin, prosecuting, said the investigation began when the younger girl told her mother Lawson had touched her and the older victim then revealed she had also been abused.
Lawson was interviewed by police and denied the offences but then booked in to the Best Western Hotel in Tiverton where he took an overdose of painkillers.
He recovered but police found a note in his luggage written on hotel paper which read:"I have let down so many people. I regret to say I am a kiddy fiddler".
Miss Julia Brassington, defending, said Lawson had taken a huge step towards addressing his offending by admitting what he had done.
She said:"This has been a huge fall from grace. He spent 35 years working very hard in the financial sector until he retired at the age of 55 to take a less stressful job as a bus driver.
"After three years he became a property developer. He has been a man of exemplary character who has helped Devon in Sight and been the chairman of the local branch of the University of the Third Age.
"He teaches a photographic course for them and has also become a polling clerk and a polling officer. He is now teaching literacy in prison."
