A BOY was strung up by his ankles and beaten with a fishing rod during a decade of physical and sexual abuse, a jury at Bradford Crown Court heard.

Now a middle-aged man, the witness alleged he was hung upside down from a beam between 30 and 40 years ago and molested in a secret den made of straw bales.

Giving evidence yesterday, he said his abuser made him and a little girl pick a card to see who was going to have to perform sex acts on him.

George Roberts, 67, of Woodhouse Drive, Woodhouse, Keighley, is on trial denying 23 offences allegedly committed against three children in the 1970s and 1980s.

He pleads not guilty to 15 offences of indecency with a child, seven counts of indecent assault and a single offence of incitement to commit buggery.

Roberts denies any wrongdoing and told the police his three accusers, a man and two women, all now middle-aged, could be hoping to claim compensation.

Prosecutor Adrian Dent said that the male complainant went to the police in January last year with allegations that Roberts had sexually abused him over more than a decade.

He alleged he was forced to commit sex acts on him at various locations in the Keighley area.

Roberts is also accused of showering naked with a girl aged ten to 12, repeatedly asking her to go to bed with him and touching her breasts.

The second woman complainant told the police he pulled her clothing down once when she was a child, touched her indecently and kissed her.

Roberts, who was arrested in the early part of last year, told the police the alleged abuse had never happened and the three people may have made it up because they wanted to claim compensation.

“He denied any sexual misconduct towards these complainants,” Mr Dent told the jury.

The male complainant told the police the abuse had ruined his life.

“I have lived about 42 years with this. I’ve blocked out an awful lot.

“My life has been destroyed. I am not a bad person but I would have been a lot better. I have been angry,” he said.

He fought back tears as he described how he would pretend to have picked the highest card to spare the little girl from the abuse. She would then have to sit and watch Roberts abusing him, he claimed.

The man also alleged that Roberts bought ropes, chains and padlocks and liked to be tied to a table during the abuse sessions.

Cross-examined by Rebecca Young, barrister for Roberts, the man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, denied making up the allegations.

He said Roberts would string him up by his ankles from a hook on a beam and beat him with a fishing rod while sexually molesting him.

The trial continues.

MORE TOP STORIES