A wealthy barber who set his mistress up in a detached house has been found guilty of sexually assaulting young girls.

A judge said Robert Coulson had "lived a lie", deceiving his wife and two sons while abusing four girls in 35 years.

Coulson, 74, of Crawley Lane, Pound Hill, Crawley, faces a possible life sentence after a jury unanimously found him guilty yesterday.

He is already behind bars after he was remanded in custody at the end of a three-week trial at Hove Crown Court . He will be sentenced on April 24.

Judge Anthony Niblett said: "For at least 35 years you have been living a lie. Your life has been a lie.

"You have been lying to your wife, lying to your mistress and lying to your own sons.

"Those lies have now been exposed and the truth spoken by your victims has been revealed.

"You can expect to receive a lengthy sentence of imprisonment." Dianne Chann, prosecuting, said Coulson had started an affair with a colleague's wife while running a barbershop business in Crawley.

Between 1984 and 1986 he regularly visited her at a detached country house he bought for her near Haywards Heath.

During that time he began sexually abusing two sisters who were then aged 13 and 14.

One of the victims, now in her 30s, told the jury he touched her breasts after showing her pornographic magazines.

Coulson's mistress, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he bought the house for her because he wanted her to leave her husband.

She said she continued the relationship even after the sexual abuse came to light in 1993.

She told the jury: "I was foolish enough to be controlled by this man. I regret now I did not listen."

Coulson owns a barber shop in London Road, Northgate, Crawley, and once owned another shop in Three Bridges.

He was arrested in August 2006 after a child told a teacher he had been abusing her.

The sisters and a fourth victim came forward after Coulson was charged with sex offences which took place in 1986 and 2006.

Coulson had denied 14 charges of indecent assault, sexual assault indecency with a child and sexual assault of a child by penetration.

He told the jury: "I don't understand why the girls are accusing me of these offences.

"What pleasure could a man get out of what they are saying?"

The court heard the maximum sentence of assault by penetration of a child is life.

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