A 'brazen' abuser from Westbury who made a young girl take part in sex acts with him has been jailed for 14 years.

David Tilley groomed the victim from the age of five, when she was living in Tiverton, and committed countless sexual assaults over the next decade.

The girl was so distressed by the assaults that on one occasion she jumped out of a ground floor window to escape him.

On one occasion when she was aged about 11 or 12 he had sex with her and bribed her with £5 to buy her silence.

The assaults took place in the 1990s and 2000s but she did not tell anyone at the time, and made her first disclosure to her husband in 2015.

She only went to the police after seeing a leaflet about child abuse in the waiting room of her doctor's surgery.

Father-of-seven Tilley, 67, of Fell Road, Westbury, said all her allegations were 'nonsense and rubbish' but a jury at Exeter Crown Court found him guilty.

Tilley had denied seven counts of indecent assault or gross indecency and one of sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 and was jailed for 14 years with a one-year extended licence.

He was declared to be an offender of particular concern and put on the sex offenders register for life by Judge Erik Salomonsen.

He told him: "You used this girl for your own sexual gratification on repeated occasions. Her personal statement says that what you did has messed her whole life up and had affected all her relationships.

"Her words show the dramatic and devastating effect of this sort abuse on victims when they are children and as they grow to be adults."

Mr Richard Crabb, prosecuting, read a victim statement from the girl which told how the abuse had blighted her life.

He said the offence of intercourse with a child under 13 is equivalent to the modern offence of statutory rape.

He said some of the abuse happened when Tilley was visiting the victim's home and had been carried out brazenly when other people were nearby.

Mr Joss Ticehurst, defending, said this was not a case where there had been multiple rapes. He asked the judge not to make the total sentence too onerous, saying Tilley suffers from poor physical and mental health. He has suffered mini strokes and has been been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression.

After the case, Detective Constable James Hardy, who led the inquiry, welcomed the sentence and praised the courage of the victim.

He said: “David Tilley subjected his victim to a systematic campaign of abuse over a number of years, and I am pleased that he has been brought to justice.

“I am extremely proud of the victim for the bravery and courage she showed in both coming forward to the police in the first instance, and standing up to her abuser during this trial.

“The victim had to relive her ordeal in court due to the callousness of Tilley who took this to trial.

“Judge Salomensen described her evidence as "compelling", which was reflected in the quick and unanimous guilty verdict returned by the jury, and the long sentenced passed down to Tilley.

“I hope today’s result goes someway in helping the victim heal and move on from the abuse she suffered. This case also shows that time is not a factor when it comes to the police investigating these types of crime.

“If you have suffered abuse, no matter how long ago it took place, and find the courage to tell the police, you will be believed and we will do everything in our power to bring these perpetrators to justice.”