A FORMER swimming instructor from Bicester has been told he should expect “a substantial prison sentence” for physically and sexually abusing children.

Terence Sturgeon-Clegg was yesterday found guilty of six counts of indecent assault, in addition to seven counts of indecent assault and three counts of child cruelty he was convicted of on Friday.

The 62-year-old, now of Irvine in Ayrshire, Scotland, was also yesterday cleared of two other counts of another serious sexual offence.

It took the jury 18 hours and 27 minutes of deliberations at Oxford Crown Court to reach verdicts on the 21 counts Sturgeon-Clegg faced in a six-week trial.

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Last week he was found not guilty of two other counts of a serious sexual offence and one count of indecent assault.

After the verdict defence barrister Nicholas Syfret QC said: “The defence recognises that the outcome of this trial will be a substantial custodial sentence for Mr Sturgeon-Clegg and that is inevitable.

“But it may assist the court in deciding the length of his sentence to consider the defendant’s medical condition.”

Sturgeon-Clegg used a wheelchair for much of the trial and said he takes painkillers because of problems with his back.

Judge Ian Pringle QC granted an adjournment for a report to be prepared examining his medical problems.

But he told Sturgeon-Clegg: “Your convictions in relation to a large number of counts relating to sexual and physical abuse... can only bring about a substantial prison sentence.”

He will be sentenced on January 16 next year.

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