Schoolgirl's sex claims are a fantasy, claims Colne chef (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Schoolgirl's sex claims are a fantasy, claims Colne chef

3:00pm Wednesday 3rd October 2012 in News

AN ex-parish councillor, said to have had regular sex with a schoolgirl and made her pregnant when he was a youth leader, told a jury none of it ever happened.

John Duffy, who is accused of 21 sex offences, denied he had a relationship with the complainant and alleged her claims about what had gone on between them were a “figment of her imagination.”

He told Burnley Crown Court: “Maybe it's what she wanted to happen. Maybe she was infatuated, but it never happened.”

Duffy, a former pub chef, who has also worked at Stirk House at Gisburn and now has a shop, was alleged to have started to touch the complainant when she was 12.

He told the jury: “She may have been 12 when she started on a sexual adventure, but it wasn't with me.”

The defendant, 50, of Skipton Road, Colne, denies 13 charges of indecent assault, one allegation of gross indecency with a child and eight counts of rape.

The prosecution has alleged Duffy, then married with children, had sex with the girl in a house, his car and at the youth club where he was a leader. He was alleged to have told the girl they would get married and had shown her holiday brochures of where he said they would go.

Alison Mather, prosecuting, has claimed the girl allowed the defendant to have sex with her to try and win his love and took part in indecent acts because Duffy was said to have told her that's what people who loved each other did.

Miss Mather has alleged the defendant “promised the girl the earth and abused her over a number of years.”

The hearing has been told the girl had an abortion when she was 15, after which, her mother told the jury, she was distraught and started to drink.

Giving evidence, Duffy, said he had never stroked the girl's hair, kissed her or told her she was beautiful. He told the jury he had not planned holidays with the child and had never touched her. The defendant claimed: “I have never had a relationship with her. I have never had sex with her, never."

In a statement Anthony Haworth, who had been a pastor at the New Life Christian Centre in Colne, said he and Duffy had become friends and he considered him to be a man of upright character and integrity. Mr Haworth continued: “I have always found him to be trustworthy and honest. He cares for the needs of others and has a deep sense of social responsibility."

(Proceeding)