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| 101-year-old Ralph Clarke guilty of child sex offences | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A 101-year-old man - thought to be the oldest person convicted in British legal history - has been found guilty of historical child sex offences. | |
| Jurors found Ralph Clarke from Erdington, Birmingham, guilty of 21 counts of abusing the girls in the 1970s and 80s. | Jurors found Ralph Clarke from Erdington, Birmingham, guilty of 21 counts of abusing the girls in the 1970s and 80s. |
| He admitted nine charges relating to a young boy part-way through his trial at Birmingham Crown Court. | |
| The retired lorry driver is due to be sentenced on Monday. | |
| Clarke, of Holly Lane, who was born in March 1915, sat impassively as the unanimous verdicts were delivered. | |
| Analysis: BBC News Correspondent Secunder Kermani | |
| The court had made some special arrangements for the 101-year-old former lorry driver. | |
| He didn't have to sit in the dock and had an intermediary to help him hear proceedings. The court only sat until lunchtime each day to allow Clarke to rest. | |
| But prosecutors said he was "lucid" with an "excellent memory". | |
| Clarke did admit some of the offences he was charged with relating to one of the three victims but described his actions as "something that happened" for which he showed no real remorse. | |
| At the start of Clarke's trial, prosecutor Miranda Moore QC said the defendant was arrested after two of his victims walked into a police station in August last year. | |
| Before the case was opened by Miss Moore, Judge Richard Bond informed the jury there would be occasions when Clarke left the hearing without permission for personal reasons. | |
| Det Con Emma Fennon from West Midlands Police's historical sexual offences team described the crimes as "horrific offences" and said Clarke showed no remorse. | |
| She said: "The nature of what he did to his victims has robbed them of their childhood." | |
| Clarke had told the jury the offences against the schoolboy were "something that happened" and said he was "immune to feelings" following his arrest last year. | |
| He admitted two counts of attempting to commit a serious sexual offence, two of indecency with a child and five indecent assaults on the boy. |