A MAN on trial accused of sexually abusing five boys had to leave Bradford's Holme Wood estate when posters appeared calling him a paedophile, a jury heard yesterday.

Neil Watkin's barrister, Michelle Colborne QC, said the allegations about him and another local boy were never substantiated.

Watkin, 48, of Allerton Road, Allerton, Bradford, denies 27 offences, dating back ten to 20 years.

They include two allegations of rape, 16 counts of indecent assault, eight of gross indecency and one attempted buggery.

The jury at Bradford Crown Court has been told that Watkin was jailed for two-and-a-half years in January 2012 for sexually assaulting a ten-year-old boy in the summer of 2010.

He is now accused of molesting five local boys at his then flat in Kelso House, Sterling Crescent, Holme Wood.

The complainants, now men in their 20s and 30s, say Watkin gave them money and invited them round to his flat where he sexually abused them.

One young man told the court he was questioned by the social services department about Watkin when he was 15.

Asked by Miss Colborne why he did not reveal then that he was abusing him, the witness replied: "I did not want my money to stop."

He said Watkin would hand out cash on demand to young males who went to his flat.

"Anyone could go down and they could tap Neil up for money and they would get it?" Miss Colborne suggested.

The man agreed, alleging Watkin was sexually abusing other boys for payment.

He said Watkin bought him alcohol when he was a boy and gave him money for cigarettes.

The witness denied that he and Watkin were in a loving sexual relationship after he had turned 17.

He agreed the defendant gave him money and emotional support when he was treated for alcohol addiction in his late teens.

Watkin visited the young man when he spent time in prison and the two exchanged letters.

Another of Watkin's alleged victims took an overdose when he was 19 and said he had been depressed ever since.

Although he did not reveal to medical staff at the time that he had been sexually abused, he said he now thought that was why he took the tablets.

Prosecutor Richard Gioserano has told the court that one of the five men rang the police after reading Watkin's case in the papers when he was jailed in 2012. He gave the police the names of other local boys who visited Watkin's flat more than a decade ago and three more men said he had abused them.

The fifth complainant emailed the police after seeing a feature on male rape on the BBC's Crimewatch programme.

Watkin told the police boys often came to his flat in those days and he gave them money but nothing sexual ever happened.

He had relationships with two of them but only when they had become adults.

The trial continues.