A man indecently assaulted a girl over a three-year period when she was aged between seven and nine, a court heard.

John Allan (75), of Mill Road, Murrow, has denied 18 counts of indecent assault and indecency with a child, when she was aged between seven and nine, and another count of indecent assault when the girl was 12. The offences are alleged to have taken place in Hoveton in the 1970s.

Andrew Shaw, prosecuting at Norwich Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday), said nine charges were alleged indecent assaults committed between 1974 and 1977, and nine were alleged indecency with a child committed between the same years. The other charge of indecent assault allegedly occurred when the girl was 12, in 1979/80.

Mr Shaw said: “This is a case of historic sexual abuse. It started when the girl was seven and it continued until she was nine - a three-year period.

“The girl never told anyone at the time because she did not know what was being done to her was wrong.

“Her decision to go to the police in her mid-40s was triggered by hearing and reading about the well-publicised revelations about Jimmy Savile. It was then she realised she had been holding off too long.”

The trial continues.