A MAN has been found guilty of raping a girl when she was “five or six years old”.

A jury returned unanimous verdicts on Roger Robinson, 69, of Beachy Road, Crawley, on April 6 and found him guilty of fourteen counts of rape and four counts of indecent assault.

One of the rape charges Robinson was convicted of was that he invited two other men to have sex with the girl.

The jury returned a not guilty verdict on one count of rape.

The defendant, who had denied the charges, shook his head and showed no emotion as the jury foreman announced the verdicts following the three-week trial at Hove Crown Court.

The jury heard that the abuse had taken place over a period of 17 years.

Her Honour Judge Shani Barnes told the jury it was hearing a “very complex” case for “several” reasons, not least the historic nature of the offences.

She had added that due to the lack of forensic evidence it was vital that the jury consider everything they had heard during the trial “in an analytical way”.

In his summing up of the case, Rowan Jenkins, prosecuting, had described the actions of Robinson as “depraved”, and added the girl was now “damaged”. He said that the abuse on the girl was “physically painful and mentally painful”.

Nicholas Hamblin, defending, had told the jury that the allegations were “fantasy” and it had been “one person’s word against another” after the defendant and the victim had addressed the court.

A defence application for Robinson to be released ahead of sentencing to support his wife through a major operation was rejected by the judge.

He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on May 30. 

The judge asked for a victim impact statement to be prepared.