A 72-year-old man who raped a woman three decades ago has been jailed for 11 years.

Colin Scott, of Meadow View Park, Clacton-on-Sea had denied rape, indecent assault, buggery and assault but was found guilty after a trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

Jailing him Judge John Devaux said that if he wasn’t in such poor health he would have made the sentence two years longer.

Scott was found guilty by a jury of the rape, buggery and indecent assault offences by 10-2 majority verdicts and guilty of the assault charge by a unanimous verdict.

He had also denied two offences of indecency with a child, rape and two offences of buggery on another alleged victim dating back to the 1970’s while he was living in east Suffolk. A jury was unable to reach verdicts on those charges and yesterday prosecution counsel Andrew Thompson said he wouldn’t be seeking a retrial and those charges were left on the court file.

Scott denied the allegations and accused the complainants of lying.

Jonas Milner for Scott said his client was in poor health and it was very likely he would die in prison.

“These convictions have left him a broken man,” said Mr Milner.