A 60-YEAR-OLD man who sexually abused a schoolgirl over six years was today behind bars awaiting a lengthy jail term.

A Burnley Crown Court jury threw out Peter Sunderland's claim that his victim had been suffering from "false memory syndrome," and convicted him of six counts of rape, three of a serious sexual offence and one of indecency with a child.

Sunderland was cleared of two further charges of a serious sexual offence by the panel on the direction of Judge Raymond Bennett.

Sunderland, of Bevington Close, Burnley, who had denied all the allegations and had told police the victim's claims were down to "booze and drugs," was remanded in custody until December 1 for pre-sentence and psychiatric reports. The judge told him prison was inevitable.

The court had heard how Sunderland committed the offences against the girl, then aged between 10 and 16, between 1976 and 1982. She had sobbed as she had given evidence against the defendant, who, the jury heard, took every opportunity he could to abuse her. The victim, who made a statement to police about her treatment last December, told officers how she had lived in fear of the defendant, who had carried on his behaviour even when she had been crying.

Her childhood friend told the court the victim would disappear and would then come back quiet and not her usual bubbly self.

She had broken down and told the friend how the defendant was messing with her and doing things to her she did not want to do.

Sunderland claimed the woman was suffering from the "false memory syndrome," where a person believes something has happened to them when it has not, or that she was "in it for the money," to claim cash from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.