A 52-year-old Chepstow man faces a jail sentence after being convicted of the systematic sexual abuse of a young boy in a Forest of Dean town more than 35 years ago.

A jury at Gloucester Crown Court found David Aston, of Alice Crescent, guilty of eight charges of indecency and gross indecency with a child under the age of 16 between 1st January 1976 and 31st December 1978. Some of the offences were committed when Aston was aged under 16.

The court had been told by the victim, now aged 42, how he was forced to commit, and subjected to, sexual acts on waste ground near to their homes, in a barn and in Aston's bedroom.

He was aged five when the abuse started during the long hot summer of 1976, continued during the Queen's Silver Jubilee year of 1977 and only ended when he, his mother and sister moved to Bristol in 1978.

The man, who now lives in Somerset, told the court he moved to the Forest of Dean with his mother and sister and he used to play with Aston when his mother was visiting his parents.

He said the first incident happened when they were playing in a dry ditch on waste ground close to where they both lived when Aston asked the five-year-old to masturbate him.

Over the next three years, Aston forced him to commit sex acts and subjected him to others, mainly at weekends and during school holidays.

Aston told him not to tell anyone or he'd kill him and his sister. "I was terrified," he said.

He had little choice but to go with Aston. "He said: 'Come on, I'll take you to the shops or the woods'. We never made it to the shops or the woods."

He began to spend less time with Aston in 1978 when his mother's new boyfriend started to visit them – and he had no further contact with Aston when the family moved to Bristol and his mother remarried.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said his life had been adversely affected by the abuse. He had ended up on the streets of London selling the Big Issue, was confused about his sexuality and felt like a misfit. "I did not know where I fitted in," he said.

He came forward as he had been unable to suppress his feelings about what had happened any further and had been encouraged by his partner to seek help. During cross-examination, when Jason Coulter, defending, suggested the abuse had not taken place and he'd made up the allegations, he said: "I'm saying you're wrong."

Aston had denied the allegations, claiming the man had invented the claims. "It never ever happened," he told police after he had been arrested when the allegations came to light.

Judge William Hart deferred sentencing Aston until 14th August and said he faced an immediate custodial sentence. He would also be required to meet the requirements of the Sexual Offences Act.