A 48-YEAR-OLD karate instructor has been found guilty of carrying out a series of sex offences against a teenaged girl pupil who has since committed suicide.

But he was cleared at Gloucester Crown Court of raping the girl, who was 13 and 14 at the time of the offences and 16 when she took her life earlier this year.

Jaspal Riat, aged 48, of Denewood Ave, Handsworth Wood, Birmingham, was remanded in custody overnight to be sentenced today.

Riat had denied two charges of raping the Kidderminster schoolgirl, one charge of sexual assault and eight of sexual activity with a child. The charges were dated between February 2008 and May 2009.

After a retirement of almost 10 hours at the end of a two-week trial the jury found him guilty of the sexual assault charge and seven offences of sexual activity with the girl.

He was cleared by the jury of one sexual activity charge and one of the rape allegations and was formally acquitted of the other rape charge after the jury failed to reach a verdict.

Riat was running a karate school in Birmingham when he met the girl, who became one of his most enthusiastic and successful young students.

The prosecution said his offences began after he took her upstairs at the club and kissed her.

From then on there were frequent offences against the girl, who came to believe she was in love with Riat, the jury was told.

Many of the offences were at Riat’s own home when the girl’s parents allowed her to stay there.

Once the girl had made her allegations against Riat she went into foster care and she committed suicide before the case.

The jury heard during the trial that it was in December 2008 that the girl broke her silence about her relationship with Riat when she spoke to a nurse about it at school.

From the time of his arrest Riat denied the allegations.

The jury heard during the trial that the girl had died but were not told until after the trial that she had taken her life.

Before remanding Riat in custody, Judge Jamie Tabor QC told the jury “It has been an absolutely tragic tale”.

The girl cannot be identified for legal reasons.