A BRAVE survivor of childhood sexual abuse faced the leering, lying paedophile who began abusing her when she was just 13, determined to bring him to justice after he laughed in her face years later.

The courageous woman faced Anthony Lane in Worcester Crown Court but in the end the predator who stole her childhood could not even meet her eye. One thing, however, was abundantly clear - the sex offender, jailed for 14 years, was certainly not laughing anymore.

With her head held up high and her voice strong, clear and steady, she recounted the harrowing legacy of the abuse she had suffered at his hands between 1986 and 1989. It all began at the Lido in Droitwich swimming pool during what should have been a time of happiness and innocence - learning to swim.

Instead, Lane groped her and began what became an escalating pattern of abuse during which he sexually assaulted her with a pen and the neck of a wine bottle, spied on her in a shower and later had full sex with her, telling her: "It's legal now."

The 78-year-old of Mayflower Road, Droitwich fiddled nervously with his Covid-19 mask in the dock rather than look at her. In stark contrast to his evasiveness, the survivor looked straight at him and told him 'you have no choice but to listen to me'.

The balance of power had flipped. No longer the vulnerable, isolated girl the pensioner had systematically abused, she explained that she only contacted police at all when Lane laughed at her and made obscene sexual gestures during a chance encounter in the street. All she had ever wanted was an apology.

However, she says she knows now that she will never get one as Lane has 'no remorse'.

To rub salt in the wounds, after the abuse had finished Lane had also slandered her, claiming that she, only a child at the time, had seduced him.

"I will let you decide whether you believe a 13-year-old child can seduce an adult male and, if this was really true, how a man of his age could in all good conscience accept the advances of a child" she told the court on Thursday.

The mother added: "I would like to make it clear that I categorically deny these claims and I am disgusted that he could accuse a child of something so disgusting and damaging."

We can now reveal that the jury has been deliberating for just an hour when they unanimously convicted Lane of all 13 counts of indecent assault. Many of these charges were multiple incident counts and therefore reflect a much more sustained campaign of abuse than it might at first appear.

Indeed, she said in her trial the assaults happened so often she could not remember all the occasions.

Later the same afternoon Judge Nicolas Cartwright jailed the paedophile for 14 years. Lane turned pale when he was told he would serve at least two thirds of that sentence in prison at a time when Covid-19 outbreaks have been reported in local jails.

The defendant's denials made the trial inevitable, forcing the woman to have to give evidence in court and relive the darkest chapter of her life - but she declined the use of a screen to conceal her from everyone except the judge and jury even though it was her right to such protection.

After the hearing the woman said she finally felt she had a voice and urged other survivors of sexual abuse to come forward and report matters to police, thanking officers and court staff.

When he learned his fate, the former welder, now ashen-faced, gripped a rail in the dock as if for support.

The survivor, who has lifelong anonymity, said: "I stand before you today as a survivor of the worst crimes you can commit against an innocent child. I am a survivor of violent, physical abuse. I am a survivor of persistent emotional abuse.

"And most importantly, I am a survivor of child sexual abuse."

She told Lane: "I have never had a childhood."

Since the abuse the woman says she has suffered from severe depression and PTSD and it has damaged her trust in others. In a separate incident her mother poured boiling water over her head from a kettle and she had to go to hospital. In court she described her childhood as 'awful' and 'terrible'.

"I feel the damage done to me as a child is irreversible. Tony stole my childhood, my dignity, my right to my body, my safety and my innocence. I don't think I will ever be able to move on from the pain he inflicted."

The survivor also explained why she reported matters to police after 28 years - a chance encounter in the street when Lane made 'lewd comments and sexually suggestive mouth and hand movements interspersed with laughter'. She said his actions filled her with anger and disgust. The abuse was first reported on October 14, 2017.

"He goaded me further and said I wouldn't go to the police, continuing with his mouth and hand actions. Seeing his complete lack of remorse towards me makes me believe he hasn't changed one bit, and therefore while he is still walking free, other children are at risk," she said.

Two jurors returned to watch the defendant being sentenced by Judge Nicolas Cartwright who also made a sexual harm prevention order restricting Lane's contact with children once he is released.