Jury in historic child sexual assault trial at Portsmouth Crown Court retires to consider verdict

The jury in a child rape trial has retired to consider a verdict.

This week, evidence has been heard in the trial of Mark Loten. The 63-year-old has been charged of two historic counts of rape and one count of indecent assault. The allegations date back to the 1970s, with a particular incident in 1979.

His alleged victim has a life-long right to anonymity.

The crux of the case is that Loten’s accuser alleges that she was raped on “four or five” occasions roughly 50 years ago, when she was still a child, and had not approached the police sooner because she was “scared”. Loten, from Yapton Road in Littlehampton, denies the charges.

With both the prosecution and defence concluding their arguments, Judge William Ashworth summarised the case before sending the jury out to deliberate.

He said: “She [alleged victim] says that on one occasion her father walked in on her being abused.

“She accepted that she had alcohol and financial problems; when asked why she didn’t bring it to the police sooner, she said she had blocked it out of her mind. People were saying she needed to get her mental health sorted out.

“The defendant gave evidence about the background. He left school at age 15 and had a job at a greengrocers.

“It’s all yours now, members of the jury. You must please return a unanimous verdict of either guilty or not guilty. You have as much time as you need.”

Proceeding