A man who claims he was repeatedly sexually abused by his assistant headteacher told a jury he wanted closure not compensation.

He is one of four former pupils at the William Henry Smith School, Rastrick, Brighouse, giving prosecution evidence in the trial of Peter Merrick who denies 20 allegations of indecently assaulting boys and two of committing a serious sexual offence against them.

Merrick, 66, is accused of molesting boys at the school for pupils with behavioural difficulties between 1977 and 1984 in his study and bedroom and in the shower room, boot room and boiler room.

Yesterday, his first alleged victim told Bradford Crown Court he made a statement about the abuse to a solicitor in 2009 out of his desire for closure and not for financial gain.

Speaking in court from behind a screen, he said he joined a social networking site set up by a former pupil at the school because he wanted to trace boys he knew there.

Defence barrister Eleanor Laws QC put it to him that the site encouraged men to go to the police if they had been abused at the school.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said he joined because he did not have many friends.

Merrick began teaching at the school in 1976 and three years later was promoted to assistant headteacher in charge of residential care.

Matthew Bean, barrister for the Crown, accuses him of systematically sexually abusing four pupils.

The jury was told that the boys were sent to the school because they had behavioural problems and were difficult to teach.

Merrick, of Overseal, Derbyshire, was in a position of responsibility and trust towards them.

He is alleged to have began sexually abusing the first boy when he was about 11. The man says Merrick took him out of class to abuse him in a storage area and carried out a serious sex act on him in his bedroom while his wife was away.

The boy is said to have been so deeply affected he ran away from the school.

After he complained to the police in 1993, Merrick was arrested and questioned.

He denied the accusations and the investigation halted. He was re-arrested 15 years later.

The trial continues.