A pensioner who abused a six-year-old girl then blamed her for seducing him was freed by a judge who told him: "Go home and look after your wife."

Ronald Rhodes, 69, of Carters Close, Carterton, pleaded guilty at Oxford Crown Court to two counts of indecent assault. Nigel Daly, prosecuting, said one of the offences took place when the girl was just six or seven. He said Rhodes admitted playing doctors and nurses with her.

He added Rhodes had been taken to seen a psychiatrist but had not faced up to his actions. Mr Daly told the court: "Initially he described the event as if the girl had seduced him."

Philip Warren, defending, said: "He is beginning to face up to it."

Rhodes, whose wife sobbed at the back of the court, was told by Recorder Carl Gaskell: "It's a sad sight to see someone of your age standing in the dock of a crown court for the first time in your life and your wife sitting there in the public gallery in the condition we see her - very tearful.

"Had you been a younger man and had there been more offences there is no doubt you would have been going to prison."

He put Rhodes on probation for two years and ordered him to attend a project for sex offenders. He must also register with local police and pay £190 costs.

Mr Gaskell added: "Go home and look after your wife."

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