A 75-year-old Essex man who sexually assaulted a schoolgirl nearly 50 years ago will be sentenced next month.

Before Ipswich Crown Court was Alec Smith, of Little Wood, Frinton-on-Sea who had denied indecently assaulting the girl between September 1968 and 1969 and was found guilty by a jury after a trial which started last week.

After the jury returned its verdict today, Monday, November 6, Smith shouted:”I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. I’m 100% innocent”.

Adjourning the case until December 1 for a pre-sentence report, Judge Martyn Levett told Smith that all options would be open to the court when he returned for sentence.

Smith was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register on an interim basis and was granted conditional bail.

Smith touched the eight-year-old girl indecently as they were sitting on a sofa while he was babysitting.

The girl told her mother what had happened when she got home that night and there had been a conversation between her mother and Smith’s wife, said Richard Potts, prosecuting.

He said Smith’s wife had returned home in tears and refused to tell him why she was upset.

The girl’s mother told another daughter what her daughter had told her but thereafter the incident was “swept under the carpet”, said Mr Potts.

The victim contacted the police in February last year and following his arrest Smith denied indecently touching the girl.

During the trial the victim’s sister claimed the incident involving her sister and Smith had been “hushed up” by their mother.

Giving evidence during the trial she said that following the assault in the late 1960’s her mother had told Smith’s wife Phyllis what had happened.

“She went back to Alec and said he admitted it straight away when he was challenged about it,” she said.

She said her mother said she didn’t want her sister to be dragged through the courts and wanted the whole thing “hushed up”.

Paul Donegan for Smith told the court there had been no more offending in the intervening years.

He said Smith had been married to his current wife since 1984.