AN army cadets officer has been convicted of a string of indecent assaults on two recruits across Burnley and Pendle in the 1970s.

George Walker, now 79, had denied placing his hands down the trousers of one victim, and kissing and fondling another, while they were on parade.

But jurors at Burnley Crown Court convicted Walker of 10 charges of indecent assault and two charges of gross indecency with boys aged under 16 after a seven-day trial.

Walker, formerly from the Burnley area but now living in Plymouth, was released on bail until June 19, by Recorder Mark Ainsworth, to be sentenced at Preston Crown Court.

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Prosecutor Timothy Ashmole said one of the victims recalled how the cadets leader also liked to talk about sexual practices with the boys.

“Not only were his actions inappropriate, to say the least, but his discussions with him are indicative of the way that Walker was thinking of the cadets in a sexual way,” he said.

He told the court it was unclear what rank Walker held within the cadets, with the victims believing he was a captain or lieutenant at the time.

But it was clear he would have had ‘power and authority’ over the boys, he told jurors.

Mr Ashmole said the defendant appeared to ‘take a shine’ to one of the boys and took him on a trip to the theatre in Manchester.

But he used the excursion as an excuse to molest the boy in a near-empty theatre.

He also told jurors how during a practice drill Walker ‘rather strangely’ put his hands down the back of a second boy’s pants, so he would stand to attention.

Walker also kissed the same boy, another time, rubbed up against him and placed his tongue in his ear, the court heard. Another parade ground incident saw Walker place his nose in the boy’s mouth while touching his private parts.

The incidents did not come to light until 2015 and 2016, when the victims were in their mid-50s.