A retired police officer has been warned to expect a jail sentence after being found guilty of the historic abuse of two young sisters.

Colin Dearing, aged 82, claimed the girls had lied about him simulating sex with them when they were aged eight to 11 in the 1990s but the jury at Exeter Crown Court accepted their account.

He is a former police officer who served with the Met and the old Exeter force who has also worked as a river inspector on the Norfolk Broads and a removals man with a firm in Bishopsteignton.

He was found guilty after the jury heard how the girls’ parents had confronted him about the allegations and he had been unable to deny them.

Dearing, aged 82, of Richmond Place, Dawlish, denied but was convicted of a total of five counts of indecent assault, three against one girl and two against the other.

Recorder Mr Philip Mott, QC, ordered a probation pre sentence report and released Dearing on bail.

He told him:"You must realise that for these sort of offences the usual and overwhelmingly probable sentence is one of immediate imprisonment. The fact I am granting you bail is no indication of leniency.

"I shall decide the disposal when I have read the reports and heard mitigation and know more about you."

He ordered Dearing to sign on the sex offenders’ register immediately.

During a three day trial the prosecution allege he abused the girls while visiting their parents home in Newton Abbot and going upstairs when they were on their own in their bedrooms.

The two women, who are now grown up, say neither were aware at the time the other was being abused. They said they were so young and naive they did not realise the significance of what he was doing.

Dearing said he had never done anything inappropriate with the children and had been so shocked when he was confronted by their parents he was left speechless and unable to deny the allegations.

He said:"I never had simulated sex with either of the girls. At the time I had a 44 inch waist and I would have hurt them if anything like that happened.

"When their parents came to my house I was so shocked at hearing what I was being accused of that I could not speak."