A WHAPLODE man who repeatedly raped a young girl was jailed for 19 years at Lincoln Crown Court on Thursday.
Benjamin Rodgers (pictured right) was convicted by a jury of what was described as a campaign of rape against the child. He also later carried out further sex attacks on another young girl.
Rodgers (74), a former lorry driver, of Hagbeach Gate, was previously found guilty by a jury of three charges of rape and six charges of indecent assault committed against his two victims between 1973 and 2002. He denied the offences.
Recorder John Pini QC, passing sentence, told Rodgers: “You are a thoroughly evil and manipulative man. What you did was depraved and quite wicked.
“In my judgement this was a campaign of rape.
“This was not the first time that you have been convicted of serious sexual offences.
“It may be that you end your days behind bars. If that should happen it is simply the inevitable consequences of the fact that you have evaded justice for most of your life.”
The court was told that Rodgers was previously jailed in the 1990s when he received a seven-year sentence for sex offences against a girl and for perverting the course of justice.
David Herbert, prosecuting, said the first of the current offences began in 1973 when the victim was just six years old.
Rodgers began indecently assaulting her before he eventually moved on to regularly raping her when she reached the age of 11.
The girl was subjected to so many sex attacks over the next five years that she was unable to say how many times she was abused by Rodgers.
Rodgers warned her not to tell anyone, saying if she did then she would be taken away by Social Services.
Several years later Rodgers went on to carry out further attacks on another young girl.
Investigations began in 2010 after a friend of one of the victims approached police alleging that she too was the victim of sexual assaults.
Rodgers was subsequently charged with a number of offences although at trial he was cleared of allegation made by the complainant who originally contacted the police.
During his trial Rodgers denied the offences claiming that prosecution witnesses lied.
His barrister Michael Cranmer-Brown, in mitigation, urged the judge to bear in mind the total overall sentence when deciding how long to imprison Rodgers.