By Deborah Hardiman
Copyright expressandstar
David Wilkinson, aged 77, is charged with historic sex offences dating back to the 1980s in Kidderminster when he taught at Wolverley High School.
Giving evidence for the prosecution at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday a friend of a complainant in the case told the jury they had many conversations in the following decade about what she said took place between her and the defendant.
The witness said: “She spoke about David as being her first big relationship. It had a big impact on her and how she was.
“He took her to dinner with some of his friends. I don’t think the school knew about it.
“We had similar childhood experiences and we talked about deeper subjects. She told me all about David. She was almost quite proud of the fact that he picked her out although he was seeing other girls. She felt special.”
The witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the jury that in 2018 she phoned the police on the complainant’s behalf to report him.
Under-cross examination by the defence she said the complainant had spoken of at times feeling “pressured” and “cajoled” to sleep with Wilkinson. However, she conceded that the complainant never said she had been raped by him.
The jury heard hat In his police interview the defendant stated that any sexual activity was never about “gratifying” his desires. And he told the officers the girl’s family was aware of their intimacy.
He said he recalled taking one “topless photo” of the girl which he subsequently destroyed, but denied keeping a shoebox containing numerous nude photographs of her under his floorboards
He told the officers that he eventually parted ways with the girl after she came to visit him and found another young girl, whom she knew, hiding behind the sofa.
He described to the officers that she “exploded”. “She was very upset and rushed out. I was fairly ashamed,” he told the officers.
The jury previously heard that a complainant in the case had believed sexual activity with him was consensual, but was a child at the time.
The defendant is standing trial for offences including sexual assault of a child, two counts of rape and making an indecent photograph of a child.
Wilkinson, now of Vinsac, Le Vigeant, France, denies all the allegations.
The trial continues.
