A STOURBRIDGE pensioner has been locked up for ten years for carrying out historical sex attacks on two young schoolgirls.

Robert Shepherd, of Westwood Avenue, Norton, had pleaded not guilty to four charges of rape when he appeared before Wolverhampton Crown Court.

But after retiring to consider the evidence at the end of his trial, a jury convicted Shepherd on all four offences, which date back more than 45 years.

The jury were told the offences were carried out between 1968 and 1971 and his two victims had been aged 13 and under.

Judge Martin Walsh told the 66-year-old that he must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and ruled the offences were so serious only a substantial prison sentence was appropriate.