PENSIONER Arnold Boulton - convicted of raping a vulnerable girl of 14 while she was on the run from care - has been warned to expect a prison sentence in the region of eight years.

Judge Stephen Clarke also placed the 67-year-old on the sex offenders' register for the remainder of his life.

Judge Clarke said he was concerned the defendant may present a continuing danger to vulnerable girls and wanted a report from specialists within the probation service to see if his prison licence period should be extended.

The judge said there was a suggestion that a number of girls were going to the defendant's bungalow home but he accepted only two had made complaints about him.

The jury, after a six-hour retirement at Mold Crown Court, convicted Boulton of raping the girl at his home. But he was cleared of having unlawful sex with a second girl.

The jury heard how the girl visited him twice a week on the pretence of doing some cleaning and ironing for him.

In fact, he was having regular sex with her and paying her, and also showering her with gifts.

The prosecution said the unlawful sex charge had been brought on the basis that the sexual relationship started with the second girl when she was only 15. Boulton claimed it was when she was 16 and that she had initiated it.

Defending barrister Jeff Clarke asked the judge not to conclude that the defendant was a sexual predator in the wider sense.

He asked for bail so his client could put his affairs in order before receiving the inevitable prison sentence. But Boulton was remanded in custody.

Prosecutor Andrew Thomas told the jury during the week-long trial that Boulton denied rape in the face of forensic evidence linking him with the rape victim, which had been found inside her underwear.

The court heard allegations that Boulton claimed he was a multi-millionaire and became so desperate for sex with the first girl that he offered her £20,000.

But when the girl refused to have sex with him, he raped her.

Boulton of Flint Road, Saltney Ferry, who appeared in the dock with the aid of a walking stick and denied rape and indecent assault, was remanded in custody pending his sentence at Warrington Crown Court at 10am on August 27.

Judge Clarke said: 'This is a case where there are aggravating features. The victim was a 14-year-old girl.

'Although she may not realise it, she was more vulnerable than most.'

The defendant knew her age, he knew she was on the run from care, which meant that the starting point at the end of a trial was a sentence in the region of eight years.

The judge said he appreciated that the defendant was not in the best of health.

Jeff Clarke said he would ensure that a medical report was available for the next occasion to see if the judge could be persuaded to reduce the potential sentence.

'When it comes to someone of this age, any sentence may be in real terms almost a life sentence,' he said.