A MAN who sexually abused a teenage girl more than two decades ago has been jailed.

Neil Sharp, 75, of New Bridge Bank, near Chester-le- Street, was given a two-year prison sentence at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday.

The court was told he committed a series of offences on the girl in the 1980s.

Ros Scott Bell, prosecuting, said: “She knew what was happening was wrong, but she was too afraid to tell anyone.

“She described him as a bad tempered man. She was terrified and wanted the whole thing to end.

“He said, ‘If you tell anyone, I will kill you’.”

The court heard the victim was traumatised by the abuse, but found the courage to report Sharp after confiding in family years later.

Sharp was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault on the fourth day of a trial at Durham Crown Court in July, having denied the allegations against him.

Julie Clemitson, mitigating, said: “Other than these offences, Mr Sharp has led a perfectly normal and lawabiding life.

“The effect that this conviction has had on him and his own mental wellbeing cannot be underestimated. He is punished every day.”

Sharp will be subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for five years, which bans him from staying anywhere overnight with children under 16 or having any unsupervised contact with children without the permission of their parents or guardians.

He will be required to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for the next ten years.

Jailing him, Judge Michael Cartlidge said: “This has had an inevitable effect on the victim who has suffered with the knowledge of what has happened.”