JURORS have been sent out to decide the fate of a Bournemouth man on trial for historic sexual offences against a child.

Peter Hamilton-Harvey, of Dean Park Road, is charged with nine counts of numerous sexual offences, including indecent assault and rape, which allegedly took place during the eighties.

The judge dismissed four of the original 13 counts he was charged with following the defence's claim some evidence was inconsistent.

The jury had been told during the trial that 56-year-old Hamilton-Harvey pleaded guilty to similar offences in 1993.

Adam Feest, prosecuting, made reference to diary entries kept by the alleged victim's mother.

"You have the extract from the diary," he said. "These are diaries, this is not someone trying to think back to 30 years ago. The passage of time weakens recollections. There are details which would stay in the mind of a much older man. They are a very telling point for a young boy to pick up on at the time.

"[The alleged victim] has not been a well man. He has at times descended into addiction. As a man now clean of those addictions he still maintains clearly and consistently this defendant abused him in a whole range of ways."

Defending was Robert Grey who told the jury that any defendant charged with offences against children starts off at a disadvantage.

"Do not be affected by feelings of prejudice but base it on the evidence," Mr Grey told them. "Try the case clinically and dispassionately. Historic allegations; it's very easy to make up the details because there's no way they can be checked. All that a person, who is wrongly accused, can do is say 'I didn't do it'. In this case the defendant has said to you, and the police when he was interviewed, 'I didn't do this. There were things that I did, I pleaded guilty to them and these are different because I'm not guilty of these charges'."

Mr Grey also reminded the jury about evidence heard earlier of the claimant's doctors reports. The reports indicated that he'd suffered mental health problems, was admitted to hospital with psychosis, and had jumped out of a window.

The victim had also claimed he had been sexually abused by a family friend as a teenager as well as his grandfather as a young child, the jury were told.

Mr Grey added: "People do make false allegations and they do so for a number of reasons. In this very trial you have had an example of someone, transposing one sexual offence from someone else to this defendant."