A pensioner who was jailed for 21 years for what a judge described “the most appalling depravity” has died.

Amos Ernest Matthews, 82, had been a prisoner at HMP Berwyn, Wrexham, since his appearance at Mold Crown Court in July last year.

He had been arrested in his caravan in Kinmel Bay.

At the opening of an inquest in Ruthin it was revealed that Matthews, who was from Widnes, died in Wrexham Maelor Hospital on March 23, having been admitted in December with cancer of the bladder.

Adjourning the inquest to a date to be fixed, Kate Sutherland, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, said an inquest was mandatory because Matthews was effectively in custody at the time.

At the Crown Court hearing Judge Rhys Rowlands said the former HGV driver, who admitted 19 offences, was guilty of “the most appalling depravity” and his offences against children he had targeted, including rape and sexual assaults, had continued into great old age.

Defence barrister Duncan Bould told the court that Matthews was “beginning to deteriorate physically”.