PENSIONER Michael Winley from Cirencester has been convicted today of molesting a young girl who visited his home to look at the dolls houses he had made.

At Gloucester Crown Court after a four day trial Winley, 74, of Kingsway, Cirencester, was unanimously found guilty by the jury of twice sexually assaulting the 8-year-old girl between April 2013 and August 2014.

Winley also faces 10 charges of indecently assaulting a girl between 35 and 40 years ago but the jury has not yet reached verdicts on those - with the exception of one on which they were instructed by the judge to find him not guilty on legal grounds.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC sent the jury home for the weekend and instructed them to return to court on Monday to resume deliberating on the nine outstanding charges concerning the alleged victim who is now 47-years-old.

In his defence evidence yesterday Winley told the jury it was true he had hugged and kissed the little girl who visited his home frequently in 2013 and 2014. But he denied there was anything indecent in what he did.

Dad-of-three Michael Winley also admitted that he had taken indecent photos of the girl and that he had told her she should have five hugs a day.

It was an old fashioned saying he had heard from his daughter-in-law and he had simply repeated to the 'affectionate' girl, he said.

But he told the court he never had any sexual motivation for what he did and in fact he had not had any sexual libido since suffering a stroke 12 years ago.

He told the jury the girl and another of about the same age both visited his home frequently and liked looking at the dolls houses he had made.

He took photos of the girls as part of his hobby as an artist - he painted and drew 'action shots' of people as well as many other subjects including military tanks, Chinese scenes and adult nudes, he said.

Once, he said, he did lie down on the bed in his spare room and got the girl to sit on his tummy so she could get a better view of the dolls houses, which stood taller than him.

"My relationship with her was almost like father and daughter," he said. "She was very affectionate and I knew her quite well. I also had an excellent relationship with her mother.

"The little girl came into my house quite regularly."

He said he recalled how he was taking pictures of her once when she was 'doing gymnastics' on a spare bed in his bungalow. She lifted up the dress as he was photographing her and he suddenly realised she was showing her underwear so he stopped, he said.

"I hugged her quite often and I kissed her three times," he went on. "The first time it was her birthday and I kissed her on the side of the lips. It was just a peck. The second time was when she came up and hugged me for about 30 seconds and I kissed her on top of the forehead. The third time was when I gave her an old kaleidescope. She gave me a peck on the side of the cheek and said thank you."

Winley has admitted five charges of taking indecent photographs of the girls but said he had not intended anything sexual when he took them.

Referring to the historic allegations he said had never misbehaved in any way with the woman when she was aged between eight-12 from 1975 to 1980.

"When I listened to her allegations in court I could not believe what I was hearing," he said.

He descibed her claims as 'complete fabrication.'

And he told the jury that some of her allegations - such as him putting his hands on her genital area while giving her piggy back rides - were impossible because he had been in bad health at that time after suffering work-related back injuries and he could not have carried her.

"It is very difficult to say why someone would fabricate so many lies, knowing that when you fabricate them that it is very, very difficult to dispute them," he said.

Mr Winley gave the jury a detailed account of his working and family life, telling how he had worked for an engineering company for 28 years after leaving school and then spent 10 years as an insurance salesman.

For the last four years of his working life he made dolls houses which sold for around £3,000 each to customers all over the world, he said.

He also related how he had spent 28 years in the Royal Observer Corps, winning a long service medal and commendation.

He had run a youth club for many years, done magic shows for children and become a British bowls champion, he added.