A WOMAN who says she was sexually abused while growing up sobbed in the dock as she gave evidence.

The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, alleges that Bradley Antill subjected her to repeated abuse for four years.

The 46-year-old, of Fulmar Place, Grove, near Wantage, has been charged with one count of rape, five counts of sexual assault and eight counts of indecency with a child.

Antill denies all the charges, which relate to the same girl, and yesterday his barrister, Jeannie Mackie, cross-examined his alleged victim at Oxford Crown Court.

She asked the complainant, who repeatedly broke down in tears, why she had not told anyone about the abuse until years later. Miss Mackie said: “You didn't say anything at all about it."

The witness replied: “I was scared. He said I would never see my parents again.”

Miss Mackie added: “Even at a young age, I would suggest that you could have said something.”

The complainant answered: “I was a child, I was scared, I believed him.”

The barrister: “I would suggest that all the times that you have told people things it simply wasn’t true. And I’m going to suggest that even as a child, if this had been going on as much as you say, you would have told your mum or said something to her.”

The witness: “No, no.”

Miss Mackie: “He never did any of the things that you suggest.”

Witness: “That’s wrong.”

The trial continues.