A 61-year-old Cam man sexually abused five different young girls and women in the Stroud area over a 27 year period, a jury heard.

David Keene, of Draycott, Cam, denies 17 allegations of offences between May 1972 and 1999. He faces nine charges of indecent assault, six of rape of a female under 16, one of attempted rape of a female under 16 and one of indecency with a child.

Today, prosecutor James Haskell told the jury at Gloucester Crown Court that one set of allegations against Keene is that he abused three sisters when they were between the age of 11 and 15 from 1972 to 1978.

Mr Haskell said the jury would also hear evidence from an alleged victim who says she was abused by Keene in the 1990s when she was aged three or four.

Regarding the three sisters, Mr Haskell said Keene abused them when he was aged 15 or 16.

The defendant raped one of the girls when she was 13 or 14 in a barn in Bisley, the prosecutor said. Mr Haskell said Keene also took her in a car to Rodborough Common and raped her there.

Keene is accused of sexually touching the other two sisters.

Moving to the next complainant, who said she was abused by Keene in the 1990s, the prosecutor said: “She made an allegation when she was 10. She said he'd touched her but didn't reveal the full extent of the abuse. She was embarrassed and didn't really know how to talk about it at that age. As a result no further action was taken against him at that time."

However she returned to the police in 2016 and claimed that Keene had abused her from the age of three or four.

“He put his hands in to her knickers and touched her,” Mr Haskell said. “She says that happened a number of times."

Finally the prosecutor set out the allegations made by the fifth complainant. Again, she said she was about four when the abuse started.

“He put his hand under the skirt or dress she was wearing, touching her,” Mr Haskell said, adding that Keene 'touched her inappropriately' on other occasions when she visited his address.

“She goes on to say that effectively he went on to behave in a 'gropey sort of way' towards her, even when in her teens or 20s."

After complaints were made to the police, Mr Keene was arrested and interviewed.

Mr Haskell said: “In short, he completely denied he had touched them in a sexual way. He denied he had ever raped, and denied he could have been witnessed raping.”

When he was asked why the complainants would make up the allegations, he told the police he remembered falling out with one of them after he had been accused of stealing her husband's Kindle.

The trial continues.