Man accused of raping girls as young as 8

THREE young girls were sexually abused by a Keynsham man over 18 years from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, a court heard.

David Edwards, 58, raped and sexually assaulted one schoolgirl when she was aged between nine and 14, a jury at Bristol Crown Court was told.

He stands accused of going on to sexually abuse a six-year-old girl in a garden shed and indecently assaulting another girl aged under 13.

The jury was told that Edwards, of Warwick Road, Keynsham, was only arrested and charged with the offences recently because his first victim – now a woman in her 40s – had broken her silence on the alleged abuse and reported it to police.

Sarah Regan, prosecuting, yesterday told a jury of three women and nine men that the abuse had taken place between 1975 and 1993.

Edwards denies 28 charges, comprising 10 counts of rape, 17 counts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child.

Miss Regan said the victims had trusted Edwards, adding: "He betrayed that trust."

She said his first victim, who along with the other victims cannot be identified for legal reasons, reported the alleged abuse to police in February last year.

She claimed that she had been raped and assaulted while at "little school", aged eight or nine.

She said that Edwards told her that what had happened should be kept a secret.

Ms Regan said another victim was sexually abused in Edwards' garden shed in the 1980s.

When arrested last year, Edwards said the allegations were lies.

The case continues.

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