Man accused of abusing four children in the 1970s

One complainant told the police that Stuart Thornton threatened to withhold privileges or dish out punishment if he did not do as he wanted.

Thornton, 65, of Spring Gardens, Cowling, near Keighley, threatened one boy with never seeing his parents again if he did not comply, prosecutor Christopher Dunn said.

Thornton denies 13 allegations of sexually abusing four children at the now-closed home in Carleton Road, Skipton.

The charges include one count of buggery, six charges of indecent assault on a male person under 14, four allegations of gross indecency with a child and two counts of indecent assault.

Mr Dunn said Thornton worked at the home first as a volunteer and then as an employed carer, between 1971 and 1976.

It is alleged that the complainants were aged between five and 13 when Thornton began abusing them.

One child suffered “systematic and regular” abuse in a dormitory at the home, the jury heard.

Now a man in his fifties, he told the police Thornton forced his head into a pillow to stop him crying. “He thought he was suffocating and the pain was horrific,” Mr Dunn said.

The child was also abused on holiday trips to Blackpool for residents at the home, the court heard. A second complainant said the boys would joke that they had to wear swimming trunks in the bath to stop Thornton touching them indecently.

A third man broke down on the phone when the police contacted him as part of their investigation, Mr Dunn said.

He said he was abused by Thornton when he was aged eight to 11.

The man claimed Thornton said he could not go to the fairground if he did not allow the abuse on a trip to Blackpool.

The female complainant accuses Thornton of touching her indecently and rubbing himself against her. She says he exposed himself to her and told her to commit a sex act on him.

Thornton was first arrested in November 2015 and charged in August last year. He said he had done none of the things alleged against him. The trial continues.