A YOUNG Bibury girl was raped 'numerous times' by Kevin Blackwell over a period of nearly ten years, a Gloucester Crown Court jury was told today.

She was one of two girls who were sexually abused by Mr Blackwell, 52, between the early 1990s and 2004, alleged prosecutor Kannan Siva.

But Mr Blackwell, a mechanic from Northleach, denies that he had any sexual contact with either of the girls, who are now women in their late 20s and early 30s.

He has pleaded not guilty to four charges of indecently assaulting the older of the two girls on at least eight occasions between July 1992 and July 1998.

He also denies six charges of raping the younger girl on at least seven occasions between August 1995 and August 2004.

And he has denied two other charges of gross indecency or having sexual activity with the younger girl.

Mr Siva told the jury both girls lived in Bibury at the time of the offences, which started in each case when they were about five and at primary school.

"The older girl thought it was not right at the time it started," he said. "He used to make her lie on the floor and take her bottom clothing off.

"It happened regularly. She remembers there being ice cream afterwards, quite a few times. With or without the help of ice cream he took advantage of his times alone with this girl to explore the darker side of his nature."

From then on, Mr Siva said, the girl tried to black out the memories of what Blackwell had done to her because 'it was not something she wanted to think about particularly.'

The barrister said: "This was sexual abuse of a defenceless child when she would not have understood why he was doing these things to her."

When she was 13, the girl tried to tell her mother what had happened but then 'backed off' because she did not want to cause upset. She moved on with her life and tried to brush things under the carpet.

However, in 2016, when the alleged victim had become a mother, she finally revealed what Blackwell had allegedly done to her and made a statement to police. Her allegations led the other girl - who had told a therapist in 2014 that she had been abused as a girl - to step forward.

She had also told her boyfriend about it when she was aged 20-21.

"She remembers that the defendant started to rape her when she was in primary school and it happened numerous times," alleged Mr Siva.

He told the jury the issue for them to decide would be 'whether these incidents actually happened at all because the defence case is that they didn't happen."

The trial continues tomorrow.

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