Former DJ Ray Teret convicted of seven rapes

A former radio DJ who was a friend of Jimmy Savile has been found guilty of a string of sex offences against girls as young as 12.

Ray Teret, 73, from Altrincham, was convicted of seven counts of rape and 11 counts of indecent assault at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

He abused girls aged between 12 and 15 during the 1960s and 1970s.

Teret, who was mentored by Savile in the early days of his career, was cleared of a number of other charges.

He was found not guilty of aiding and abetting Savile to rape a 15-year-old girl in the early 1960s.

But he was found guilty of raping the complainant himself, along with 17 other charges.

Teret gave no reaction as the verdicts were read out.

He will be sentenced next Thursday and was remanded into custody.

Nicholas Johnson QC, defending Teret, said he was now facing the prospect of serving a "very long time in prison".

Given his age, Mr Johnson asked the judge not to "quash any prospect that one day he might be released from prison."

During the trial, Teret told jurors he had no interest in underage girls.

But the court heard he had a previous conviction for sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl in 1999.

Prosecutors said he had "consistently pursued" young teenage girls.

Tim Evans, prosecuting, said during the trial: "The basic set-up, the background is the same - a naive girl who has the headlights of fame shone on her, who is taken to a flat and without more, without any understanding of what is going on, has a male many years older, having sex with her."

One victim, who was raped by Teret when she was 12, said he had "wrecked" her life.

"He knew I was a kid, he could see I was a kid. I've had to live with what he has done all my life," she told BBC News.

Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor for the north west of England, said: "During the 60s and 70s Ray Teret was a popular Manchester DJ. He used this status to target young and vulnerable girls who were impressionable and in some cases simply star struck.

"He singled his victims out for attention using charm and flattery, before subjecting them to traumatic and callous assaults."

Det Sgt Carol Barlow from Greater Manchester Police said: "Ray Teret is a devious, manipulative sexual predator. He abused his celebrity status in the worst way imaginable.

"The girls he preyed upon were naive and inexperienced and in awe of who he was."

She said he treated discos as "a hunting ground to meet his victims".

Peter Watt, national services director at the NSPCC, said: "Teret was a serial offender who committed a series of repellent sexual attacks on children over several decades. The victims showed enormous courage in reliving their ordeals and have finally got the justice they deserve with these verdicts."

Liz Dux, an abuse lawyer at Slater & Gordon which represents 169 of Savile's victims and one of Teret's, welcomed the verdict.

She said: "Teret has been proved to be a predatory paedophile and dangerous sex offender in the same mould as his friend Savile.

"Yet again it shows victims of sexual assault that, even years after offences have been committed, they will be taken seriously, offenders can be punished and justice finally done."

Two other men were on trial with Teret.

Alan Ledger, 62, also from Altrincham, was found not guilty of a serious sex assault, not guilty of two indecent assaults and not guilty of one count of indecency with a child.

William Harper, 65, from Stretford was cleared of one count of attempted rape.