A judge has warned that an 88-year-old man is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of raping a teenager and sexually assaulting two others.

Leonard Swallow of Peddars Close, Ixworth, had denied two offences of rape, eight offences of sexual assault, 13 offences of sexual activity with a child and five offences of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity,.

The offences were said to have been committed between 2005 and 2021.

However on Tuesday a jury at Ipswich Crown Court found him guilty of one offence of rape, nine offences of sexual activity with a child and six offences of sexual assault.

The guilty verdicts were all by 10-2 or 11-1 majority verdicts.

Swallow was found not guilty of one offence of rape, five offences of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, two offences of sexual assault and four offences of sexual activity with a child.

Swallow was not present in court to hear the verdicts as he is currently in hospital.

Judge Emma Peters said she would be sentencing Swallow to a lengthy prison term on September 11, which would mean he was likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.

She granted him bail overnight and said she would review the situation on Wednesday after receiving an update on his condition.

Judge Peters said it was her intention that Swallow should be remanded in custody as soon as medical staff considered him well enough to be discharged from hospital.

During Swallow's trial, the court heard he had groomed the girls by giving them junk food, sweets, money, alcohol and cigarettes and provided an environment which was described as “every child’s dream”.

He had also taken the girls, some of whom were described as “troubled”, to Pleasurewood Hills theme park, said Kate Davey, prosecuting.

She said Swallow had sexually assaulted one of the girls during games of hide and seek at his bungalow in the small west Suffolk village of Knettishall and had got another alleged victim to touch him sexually in his car on a shopping trip.

Miss Davey said that Swallow had allegedly told one of the girls that he wouldn’t let her go home if she didn’t do as she was told. and also said one of the girls would get into trouble if she told anyone what he had done.

She described his bungalow at as an “idyllic refuge” from the chaos of the girls' lives and "every child’s dream”.

Giving evidence during the trial, Swallow denied sexually abusing the girls.