AN alleged paedophile accused of sexually molesting a girl from age six claims he only ever gave her 'muscle rubs' after she was sore from dancing.

Leslie Belcher, 64, denies 14 sexual offences against the complainant which are alleged to have taken place in Worcester, including spanking her, striking her with a leather belt, touching her private parts and tying her up and stripping her inside a horse shelter.

His trial got underway at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday and the complainant and her mother have both so far given evidence.

 

Belcher of St Clement's Close, St John's, Worcester, denies 10 counts of sexual assault upon a child under 13, one of sexual assault, one of false imprisonment, one of assault a child by penetration and one of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. The charges span a period between November 4, 2012 and July 8, 2020.

Some of single counts include multiple occasions - 10 occasions where the same or similar behaviour is alleged to have occurred including intimate touching or spanking.

In his police interview Belcher 'denied the allegation in full' said Daniel Wright, prosecuting, who opened the case to the jury on Tuesday.

Worcester News:

TRIAL: The trial of Leslie Belcher began at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday of this week.

 

The defendant was arrested on July 12, 2020. "He could not understand why she was making these allegations up" said Mr Wright, summarising Belcher's full comment interview.

Belcher went on to deny that anything inappropriate happened. He accepted giving her a 'muscle rub' and using a TENS machine on her.

He said that anything he did was 'nothing more than playful' and had not been sexual.

He denied lifting up her top, sexually assaulting her using his thumb or that any incident in a horse shed or shelter ever took place.

The jury was played two recorded interviews in which the complainant said the spanking happened 'all the time' and that he would do this 'quite hard', sometimes using his hand and at other times a belt.

"It did one time leave marks," she said. Of the alleged abuse she said: "I was scared to tell anyone. I didn't know if they would believe me.

"He did tell me 'you can't tell anyone because I will get in really bad trouble'," she said.

However, she said he had 'never threatened her or anything like that'. She described how Belcher used 'blue rope' to tie her up by the arms and legs in a horse shed in a field 'on the way to Droitwich'.

She told the officer he had not properly tied up one of her arms so she was able to free herself. She said he took her clothes off but did not further assault her because a woman arrived and Belcher was interrupted.

Describing another incident, she said Belcher asked her to touch him.

She said: "I kept saying 'no' and covering my eyes. He just laughed and said 'okay then'. He started doing what he normally did which was touch me."

The trial continues.