“I did not abuse boys on tractor” (From Worcester News)

“I did not abuse boys on tractor”

7:10pm Thursday 31st January 2013 in News

A PARISH councillor has told a jury it “could not have been possible” to have abused boys on his tractor.

Michael Allfrey denies claims he sexually touched youngsters who visited his farm in Storridge, near Malvern, to collect eggs and feed animals.

Prosecutor Jonas Hankin told the 70-year-old that one of the six alleged victims said Allfrey had put his hand on his groin for 15 minutes while on a tractor.

“That could not have been possible,” said the defendant.

“It would not take us 15 minutes to drive anywhere. I didn’t do it.”

Mr Hankin then asked him if he had touched the boy improperly or said anything to him in a sexual way, to which Allfrey replied “no”.

The former churchwarden did, however, admit tickling one of the complainants.

“He was moody on occasions,” he said. “I tickled him to bring him out of his mood.”

Mr Hankin told the court that in police interview Allfrey did not mention the boys had been on his land in the six months before the allegations came to light last January, a statement the prosecutor suggested was untrue.

“Why did you not volunteer their names?” he asked.

“Did you not think, ‘Here are children that have been to my property and I can tell you (the police) I’m a good man’?”.

Earlier in the trial, the mother of one of the alleged victims said Allfrey told her son he should be proud of his private parts “as one day it will give you a family”.

Allfrey denies all 11 charges of sexual assault and four counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The trial at Hereford Crown Court is expected to conclude this week.