A 55-YEAR-OLD man involved in running fishing lakes in Frampton-on-Severn regularly molested a girl he first met as she rode her horse in the area, a jury decided today.

David Jones, formerly of Frampton, but now of High Street, Stonehouse, was convicted by a Gloucester Crown Court jury of sexually assaulting and touching the girl over a two-year period when she was aged between 12 and 14, 

Jones was jailed for three years and three months by judge Michael Cullum after the jury delivered a unanimous verdict.

The judge said to Jones: "You have shown no remorse."

The offences happened in the period from 2004 to 2007, said prosecutor David Maunder.

Jones was found guilty of two offences of sexually assaulting the girl at least 13 times when she was 12.

He was also convicted of three offences of sexual activity with the girl on a minimum of 25 occasions when she was aged 13 and 14.

The victim, now 25 and a mum herself, kept quiet about the offences until July last year when she went to Stroud police station and reported Jones.

"Mr Jones was responsible for some fishing lakes in the village of Frampton-on-Severn," said Mr Maunder. "The girl and her mum used to see him there while they were out riding horses in the area."

At that time, he said, the girl was aged between nine and 10 and the offences did not begin until a couple of years later.

"She said when she was 12 she went for a walk around the lake with some dogs.

“The defendant spoke to her and said: 'You'll never need another bloke in your life because you'll always have me.

"He kissed her neck and started touching her body, albeit over her clothes.

"She says she knew what he was doing was not right but frankly she didn't know what to do about it. "

Assaults happened on a regular basis after that but she did not want to upset the family by reporting it and in due course she “went off the rails”, turning to drink and drugs, said Mr Maunder.

The abuse came to an end when the girl “went mental” after the defendant went up behind her as she was bending down,”said Mr Maunder.

The girl shouted at him to stop and go away and he did and had not molested her since, he said.

"She has now sorted her life out and has a little girl of her own.

“She says she has come forward because she did not want the same things happened to her daughter."

Mr Maunder said when Mr Jones was arrested he denied the offences totally.

He told police they were “fabricated lies” and the girl must have got “in with the wrong crowd” to have said such things.

The judge told Jones: "The jury have found you guilty of at least 36 incidences of abuse.

"You are a 55-year-old man of previous good character. You have lived with what you have done for over a decade.

"Over a two-year period you constantly abused her. This happened at least 12 times when she was only aged 12, and the same when aged 13 and 14.

"It is unsurprising that she became troubled. What you did has irretrievably changed her life. She turned to drink and drugs" 

The judge referred to the “callousness of the bullying behaviour” used by Jones.

"There can only be an immediate custodial sentence. It is worth pausing to remember that she was a very young child. I am dealing with multiple incidents."

As well as the three-year, three-month jail term, Jones will have to sign the sex offenders register for life and will be barred from working with children.