A MAN admitted sex attacks on four girls dating back to the 1970s when he appeared before a judge at Worcester Crown Court on Monday.

Francis Banner, aged 77, of Shelley Close, Catshill, Bromsgrove, pleaded guilty to seven counts of indecent assault and four of indecency with a child.

He was remanded on bail for a pre-sentence report and was told to register with his local police as a sex offender.

The youngest of Banner's victims was aged five and the eldest was 12. His offences date from 1974 to 1981.

Banner denied a charge of attempted rape and four other counts of indecent assault. Two of them related to other females.

Judge Michael Mott ordered those five charges to lie on the prosecution file.

Prosecutor Andrew Wheeler said it was not in the public interest to proceed to trial considering the number of guilty pleas.

He said Banner did not recall how many times the attacks occurred. But it happened on a regular basis.

The charges were specimen counts to reflect a particular pattern of behaviour against all his victims.

Defence counsel Graham Cliff said Banner suffered from epilepsy, asthma and a muscle wasting disease.

His 73-year-old wife was a victim of Alzheimer's Disease and was very dependent on him.

Banner will be sentenced in the week commencing April 9.