A FORMER head verger of Llandaff Cathedral yesterday told a jury he emphatically denied sexually assaulting a schoolboy chorister two decades ago.

Divorced father-of-three Colin James Adams, 58, was cross examined at Cardiff Crown Court by prosecutors who claim he stalked an altar boy he had become infatuated with, before eventually having sex with him on the steps of a church vestry.

Sue Ferrier, prosecuting, questioned Adams about claims he had first assaulted the boy, now in his late 30s, during a visit to London’s Southwark Cathedral.

“In a secluded section of the cathedral you touched him inappropriately, didn’t you?” she said.

Adams answered: “No – in a building such as Southwark Cathedral there would always be staff around.”

Ms Ferrier then asked about allegations Adams would appear, as the boy walked home from school, with the hope of satisfying his “physical desires”.

He replied: “On no specific occasion did I wait for him.”

Following this Adams was quizzed about accusations he would take the boy into a small area under the organ loft where he would grope him.

In response, Adams said the boy only went under the organ loft to attend to the public address system, which was faulty.

Ms Ferrier added: “From a very early stage in your relationship [with the boy] you in fact groomed him by offering advice based on his hopes to be ordained and by showering him with books and letters to gain his trust so that you could use him for your own sexual purposes.”

To which Adams replied: “No, that is not true.”

The verger, who now works and lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, was married with three young children at the time the offences are said to have been committed. He has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of indecent assault and one of sexual assault.

Earlier in yesterday’s proceedings Adams’ accuser told the court he was a “loner” at the time of the incident and that since his teenage years he had received counselling and taken medication in an attempt to forget about the alleged incident.

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