AN ex-swimming instructor from Bicester has been convicted of physically and sexually abusing children in the 1970s.

Terence Sturgeon-Clegg, now of Irvine in Ayrshire, Scotland, was yesterday found guilty of seven counts of indecent assault and three counts of cruelty to children under 16.

As the verdicts were read out in Oxford Crown Court, the 62-year-old stared at the floor and shook his head.

Sturgeon-Clegg was also yesterday found not guilty of a further indecent assault and two other serious sexual offences.

But after 16 hours and 57 minutes of deliberating, the jury has not yet reached verdicts on a further six counts of indecent assault and two serious sex offences.

Judge Ian Pringle sent the jury members home for the weekend but asked them to return on Monday morning to continue considering their verdict.

Opening the case to the jury six weeks ago, prosecutor Oliver Saxby QC described Sturgeon-Clegg as “a man for whom there seem to be no boundaries, physically or sexually”.

The allegations of cruelty included hitting children with a weight-lifting belt, twisting their limbs until they said “submit” and forcing them to hold hot chips that were straight out of a deep fat fryer.

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