A 60-year-old Eglwyswrw pub landlord has been jailed for 20 years after being found guilty of ten sexual offences against four young victims.

Alan Aylward, also known as Alan Ward, was convicted at Ipswich Crown Court after a trial lasting nine days.

Aylward is the landlord of the Butchers Arms pub.

He stood charged with the rape of two young girls, both aged under 14 and eight counts of indecent assault against two other young girls, also under the age of 14; one charge of indecent assault on a woman over 16 years of age and two charges of wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent.

He was found guilty of both rapes and all eight indecent assaults on underage girls. He was acquitted of indecently assaulting the woman. The two wounding charges will remain on file. The offences all happened in the Lowestoft area during the 1980s and 1990s.

Police were initially contacted in December 2013 by a woman who reported she had been sexually assaulted by Aylward when she was a teenager. After initial enquiries he was arrested by police in January 2014. When interviewed he denied the offence and said he didn’t remember the victim.

Suffolk officers then began extensive enquiries and found three other victims. Aylward was interviewed again but continued to deny any wrong-doing. Evidence was gathered and he was initially charged in October 2014 with 11 offences.

He was today found guilty of ten of these by a jury at Ipswich Crown Court and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

"This has been a long 18-month investigation from the initial contact through until today and throughout the process his victims have shown immense courage and dignity,” said Detective Constable Darren Winchester, officer in the case and part of the specialist Operation Gemini team based at Lowestoft.

“We were initially contacted by a woman, now in her 30s, and through our enquiries found three other victims of Aylward. Each of them had been raped or seriously sexually assaulted by him when they were children. The judge said in court that his behaviour had been monstrous and we are pleased that he has now been given a substantial 20-year jail term, which reflects this.

"This case has again shown victims that police will investigate and that justice can be achieved, even if the abuse happened many years before.”

Detective Sgt Simon Fitch, who heads the Operation Gemini dedicated rape investigation team added: "We are enormously proud of the victims – that they had the confidence in police to come forward and to see this process through. I would also like to praise the dedication and commitment of the officers who investigated this. It’s testament to their hard work and the victims’ bravery that we have this result today.”