A 53-year-old man has been locked up awaiting a long jail sentence for the repeated rape and sexual abuse of a teenage girl.

Colin Spencer was tracked down to his local pub and arrested after absconding on Monday this week, the day he was to stand trial on 19 charges of abusing the girl over a two-and-a-half year period.

He was apprehended by the police on Tuesday and his bail was withdrawn.

Spencer, of Marion Street, Brighouse, was brought to Bradford Crown Court in custody yesterday and pleaded guilty to three sample counts of rape and three of sexual assault.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC adjourned sentence until December 21 for the probation service to assess the level of danger Spencer poses to the public.

As he was about to be led back to the cells, Spencer called out: “I wanted this thing sorted out today, for my sake and everybody else’s.”

Judge Durham Hall strongly urged him to co-operate with the probation service over the preparation of the report.

“This is about my need to protect the public from those who present a risk to young people and the community,” he told the court.

Spencer was sent to borstal in 1977 for fondling a girl, the court heard, but had not been in trouble since.

Judge Durham Hall warned him that “a very, very substantial prison sentence was inevitable”.

Spencer also admitted the bail offence when a warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to return to the court.

His barrister, Edward Bindloss, said he was found drinking in his local pub at 7.30pm on Tuesday.

His belongings were still at the bail hostel where he was living.

The remaining 13 allegations of sexual abuse that Spencer denied were left to lie on the court file after the prosecution agreed not to proceed with them.

Nick Askins, for the Crown, said the offences Spencer had admitted were specimen counts of a course of conduct.