A 58-YEAR-OLD Huntingdon man faces a lengthy prison sentence after pleading guilty yesterday (Tuesday) to six rapes and 12 other sexual offences against a child. John Dodson, of Norfolk Road, will be sentenced on April 24 for those offences – against the

A 58-YEAR-OLD Huntingdon man faces a lengthy prison sentence after pleading guilty yesterday (Tuesday) to six rapes and 12 other sexual offences against a child.

John Dodson, of Norfolk Road, will be sentenced on April 24 for those offences - against the same girl between July 31 1985 and July 31 1987. The offences include six cases of indecent assault on a girl aged under 14 and six of gross indecency with a girl child, which he had admitted at a previous hearing.

Although he did not outline the facts of the offences, John Lloyd-Jones, prosecuting at Peterborough Crown Court, said they related to a pattern of behaviour "taking place pretty much every weekend over a two-year period".

Claire Matthews, Dodson's counsel, said her client had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and had other medical difficulties.

"He is very much aware that a lengthy custodial sentence will follow," she told the judge, Vivian Robinson QC.

The judge ordered preparation of a medical report to determine the prognosis of the cancer and the expected course of other conditions, a report by a consultant psychologist to deal with elements of Dodson's past and a pre-sentence report from the Probation Service to assess the likely impact of a prison sentence.

The case had been set down for a three-day trial but, after the start of the case had been delayed for nearly two hours, Dodson admitted the rapes.

Discharging the jury panel for the day, the judge apologised for the delay but said it had spared the victim, the only prosecution witness in the case, from the ordeal of giving evidence from behind a screen.

Dodson was remanded on conditional bail.