A MAN who sexually abused two girls - raping one and throwing her £1 - was today beginning a five-and-a-half year jail term.

Anthony Vick, 53, who formerly ran a business in the Rossendale Valley, sobbed in the dock as his barrister told Burnley Crown Court how he had lost everything and nothing could make right what he had done.

The court had been told how the defendant committed the first of the offences in Rossendale almost 30 years ago. He began his abuse with tickling games, hit one petrified victim when she screamed and told the girl he had sex with not to tell anybody.

Judge Raymond Bennett told Vick: "They will have to live with what you did to them for the rest of their days. Some girls never really get over it."

Vick, formerly of St Thomas Road, Crawshawbooth, but up until his court appearance living at a bail hostel in Liverpool, earlier admitted three counts of indecent assault and two charges of rape. He had no previous convictions. Kevin Donnelly, prosecuting, said Vick indecently touched the first girl and when she asked him to stop, kept on and told her there was nothing wrong.

He told her if she told anybody, she would be beaten and the girl was petrified.

Mr Donnelly said Vick began tickling the second girl, said it was a game and told her to keep it a secret. Because of the child's age, she thought there was nothing wrong with what the defendant was doing.

Vick fondled her and when the girl asked him to stop, he told her it was all right. He went on to have full sexual intercourse with the victim, warned her not to tell anybody and threw her £1.

Sara Dodd, defending, said Vick knew he would be going to custody. He did not have the words to express his remorse and regret at what he did. The defendant acknowledged very early on he had had sex with one of the girls and could remember nothing else, but he did not challenge their evidence.

She said Vick could not make right what he had done.

Miss Dodd went on: "He has lost everything he ever had. He will come out of custody with absolutely nothing."

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