A FORMER school cleaner and chip shop boss is back behind bars after being convicted for a second time of raping a teenage girl.

Christopher White was initially jailed for eight years in May 2008 after a jury found him guilty of attacking the 17-year-old.

But the conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal and a re-trial ordered after new evidence came to light.

Jurors in a re-trial, held in Portsmouth last year, failed to reach a verdict but the case has just been tried for a third time at Bournemouth Crown Court.

White, who used to work at Avonbourne School in Bournemouth, was found guilty of one charge of rape and two of indecent assault and was jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Now police have praised the victim, who has gone through the ordeal of giving evidence in court three times.

White, 52, of Kimberley Road, Southbourne raped the girl in 1988 but his victim did not report the offence until nine years later.

White admitted having sex with the girl but insisted she consented. Officer in the case, DC Bryan Colley of the Dorset Police Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: “I want to praise the victim for coming forward in the first instance. The strength of character she has shown in having to give evidence three times is outstanding.

“Without her courage, justice would not have been done.”

DC Colley said Dorset Police is committed to investigating and prosecuting offenders and added: “I would urge anybody who is or has been a victim of abuse to come forward and report it. We will listen and you will be believed.”