A PENSIONER accused of 17 counts of rape has gone on trial at Oxford Crown Court.

Terry Haynes, of Mathews Way, Abingdon, denies the charges and has also pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault and two attempted rapes.

The 69-year-old is alleged to have committed the offences in Abingdon and Swindon over a 10-year period dating back to the beginning of the 1980s.

Yesterday Ian Hope, prosecuting, outlined the case against Haynes to a jury at Oxford Crown Court.

He told them: “You are dealing with matters that are very old and which deal with two different women.

“A lot of the details of the offences that are alleged will have been forgotten, documents will have been lost.

“The prosecution says in short that it is very difficult to see why these two women should come to court now to lie about events that took place so very long ago.”

Mr Hope added that the jury should not disbelieve the two alleged victims just because they did not both immediately report what they now say happened.

He said they both made earlier complaints to the police which they said they then withdrew because of outside pressure.

The trial continues.