A 66 year old man who repeatedly raped two girls during the 1970s and 80s was jailed for twelve years nine months at Gloucester crown court on Tuesday, August 2nd.

John Brooke, now of Penyard Gardens, Weston under Penyard, Herefordshire, committed the offences when he was living in Viney Hill in the Forest of Dean, Glos, the court was told.

One of his two victims became pregnant by Brooke and had to have an abortion, said prosecutor Ian Dixey.

Brooke pleaded guilty to two charges of raping one of his victims between December 1976 and December 1986 and one of indecently assaulting her. He also admitted two charges of raping the other victim, between October 1979 and December 1989.

Mr Dixey told the court the charges were 'samples' of Brooke's behaviour against the two girls over a period of ten years. He started raping the girls when they were fourteen and a half and in each case went on doing so for a decade, he said.

The two victims are now women in their late forties, he added.

Brooke had pleaded guilty at a hearing on Monday and had unusually been bailed overnight so he could make arrangements for the care of his 39 year old stepson, who has a mental age of only three.

Brooke had cared for his stepson since the death of his wife in the 1970s and made arrangements for his two sisters to look after him, said Mr Phillips.