A SEXUAL predator convicted of a string of historic offences will be in prison for a decade.

Police said Graham Paul Cleaver, 59, repeatedly denied indecently assaulted two girls he knew and attempting to rape one of them in Hove and Eastbourne in the 1970s and 1990s. The 59-year-old, of Dovedale Gardens, Eastbourne, was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court today after he was found guilty in an eight-day re-trial.

It follows a previous trial where a jury had failed to agree, acquitting him of raping one of the women when she was a teenager.

He was convicted of four counts of indecent assault against one girl, aged between 15 and 17 at the time of the offences, at a house in Hove between 1972 and 1974, and six counts of indecent assault and one of attempted rape against a girl who was aged between seven and 12, at a house in Eastbourne, between 1994 and 1999.

Detective constable Rex Petty, of the Brighton Safeguarding Investigations Unit, said: "These offences first came to light when the older woman came to us in 2011. A careful and thorough investigation followed to uncover the whole truth of what had happened, and Cleaver denied everything all the way through.

"The two victims continued to support the prosecution, and with their evidence the case against Cleaver was finally proved.

"This is another example of the way in which we can support victims and help them obtain justice, even after many years."