A SEX attacker whose victim trapped him with incriminating text messages faces the next seven years behind bars.

Shameless Alan Flood, 66, celebrated as he was sent down for a string of sex attacks on a teenage girl, who he groomed with sweets and trips to a bowling alley.

But Southampton Crown Court heard how, despite her young age, his brave victim devised a plan to lure Flood into admitting the vile crimes he subjected her to.

Flood, of Windbury Road, Millbrook, embarked on the catalogue of indecent assaults on the young girl over a two-year period in the early 1990s, telling her to keep his crimes secret.

The judge was told that the offences only came to light after the victim was in hospital and asked Flood to contact her as she recuperated.

He then began to text her more regularly and she decided to snare him, asking him if he remembered the abuse he inflicted on her.

Flood responded to these messages with evidence that was later used in court to convict him.

Judge Nicholas Rowland praised the victim, who was in her early teens at the time of the abuse, for her resourcefulness in luring Flood into implicating himself.

He said: “In an unusual and remarkable feature, she had the presence of mind to trap you into making admissions by text.

“The effect on her has been devastating. The impact statement read to me and the not guilty pleas that you make caused her to relive those situations.

“You have your own health difficulties and a sentence of imprisonment will have an effect on your wife.”

A jury found Flood guilty of two charges of indecent assault, two charges of attempting to have sex with a girl under 13, and one count of sexual activity with a girl under 14.

Mark Florida-James, representing Flood, said: “He has had mental health issues and some regard should be had of that.

“These offences were 20 years ago and there’s no suggestion that there has been any repetition in the interim period.”