Victims of an Ipswich man convicted of sexual assault have told a court they contemplated taking their own life following their ordeal and could not even hug their own family.

Such was the impact of 20-year-old Marcus Lucas' crimes that some of his victims overdosed and could not bear to be around men, including their own fathers, as they battled anxiety and depression brought on by the attacks.

The sentencing at Ipswich Crown Court heard that many of the seven victims, who were all teenage girls at the time of the offences, have since struggled with intimacy and did not feel confident in attending school.

Lucas, of Sidegate Avenue, Ipswich was handed a six-and-a-half year term at a young offenders' institute, while he will serve a further five years on licence, meaning that he has to comply with terms set by the probation service.

He will also spend the rest of his life on the sexual offenders register.

He had previously been found guilty of 23 sexual offences, including rape, sexual activity with a child, sexual assault, assault by penetration and attempted assault by penetration.

One of the girls was sexually assaulted in a container in Kesgrave while another was raped at his home, while two of the girls were allegedly sexually assaulted by Lucas while they were on holiday with their families at a campsite in Norfolk, where he was on holiday with his family. 

The victims, who can not be named for legal reasons, spoke powerfully and movingly about how the fallout from Lucas' actions had affected almost every area of their lives.

One said: "This has had a major impact on my life. It has affected me mentally. It has impacted my relationship with men.

"Before, I used to be close to my dad, but now I can barely bring myself to hug him."

Another said: "After the incident, I was feeling suicidal and I wanted to hurt myself. Since the incident, I have been suicidal. These thoughts are a lot less now, but I do struggle with them.

"Since the police were involved it has all come back to me."

One of the victims said Lucas had used psychological manipulation to make her blame herself for what happened.

She said: "You stay because no one has told you that laying down and taking it doesn't make you a hero. You stay because you feel like this is love and you will get through it."

The sentencing on Wednesday also heard from Emma Nash, prosecuting, who described how Lucas had been arrested on four occasions yet had still gone on to commit further offences.

Lynne Shirley, mitigating, said Lucas had been of previous good character and had not offended since the incidents, adding that his views on sex had matured with age.

However, in sentencing Lucas, Judge Emma Peters referred to the arrests, saying: "These arrests should have been a shot across the bows to make you see how you were treating girls, but none had any affect."

In determining the length of the sentence, she referred to psychological reports which stated that he was a high risk of repeating sexual offences and deemed him to be 'dangerous'.