A Hangleton DJ sexually abused two different girls nearly 30 years apart, a court heard.

Graham Cleaver, 58, is accused of sexually assaulting and raping the first girl, then aged between 15 and 17, in the early ’70s.

It is alleged he abused and attempted to rape the second girl between 1994 and 2000 when she was between seven and 13.

Lewes Crown Court heard Cleaver was brought up in the Hangleton area of Brighton and Hove.

William Saunders, prosecuting, told how the alleged offending began when the defendant was just 16 years old.

After spying on his teenage victim he then “routinely” sexually abused her and used her as an “object of his sexual desires,” Mr Saunders said.

The jury heard how the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was too scared to report the abuse fearing nobody would believe her.

However, the court heard how their paths crossed again when the victim was in her 30s. She was in a pub in which Cleaver was DJing when he reportedly “grabbed” her breasts.

The victim went to the police in 2011 leading investigators to look into other victims.

A woman, now aged 26, claimed Cleaver also abused her between 1994 and 2000 – when she was between seven and 13 years of age.

Cleaver, who now lives in Dovedale Gardens, Eastbourne, pleaded not-guilty to two charges of indecent assault, one of attempted rape and three rape charges relating to the first victim.

He also pleaded not-guilty to six counts of indecent assault, six of indecency with a child and one of attempted rape relating to the second victim.

The trial, which is expected to last a week, continues.