Man accused of raping three girls (From Oxford Mail)

Man accused of raping three girls

7:42pm Friday 10th July 2009

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A MAN has gone on trial accused of raping and abusing three girls more than 15 years ago.

Brian Hoverd, 45, denies 11 counts of rape and 11 allegations of indecent assault on the three children between the late 1980s and early 1990s.

All three girls are now adults and today a jury at Oxford Crown Court was told one of them was attacked between 1987 and 1994.

The second girl was raped and assaulted when she was five, prosecutor Fiona Horlick said at the opening of the trial.

Miss Horlick added the third girl was 14 years old when Hoverd, of Charterville Close, in Minster Lovell, grabbed her and raped her in a churchyard.

Hoverd was quizzed by detectives at least twice over the allegations but was not charged until one of the women contacted police in 2007.

Ms Horlick said when this woman’s parents confronted Hoverd four years previously with her claims that he raped and abused her he broke down in tears and confessed.

She added: “He started to cry and said ‘I wish I could turn back the clock’ and ‘I wish I could change things and it never happened’.”

Police then traced two other alleged victims. They told detectives they had also been raped by Hoverd 20 years ago, Miss Horlick added.

One of the girls said Horverd grabbed her and raped her in a churchyard in September 1989 as she walked alone at night.

The third girl, who is now in her 20s, told the jury how Hoverd had attacked her.

She said: “I was so scared at the time. I was five years old. I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t think they would believe me.

“I had left it behind in my life. I’ve tried to move on. Only my mother and father knew.

“But police phoned me up and said some more evidence has come to light and could I make a statement.

“I didn’t want to go through with it and have it dragged up again. But I have to do it.”

Hoverd’s alleged abuse of young girls ended when he married in 1995, Miss Horlick told the court.

The trial continues.

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