Jury hear man accused of sex offences against children had similar previous convictions

The trial had to be abandoned after the first day due to a juror being discharged, so the second day saw a repeat of the opening day’s evidence in front of a new jury that was selected.

The jury heard the defendant, Simon Clancy, has previous convictions similar to the ones alleged.

The 45-year-old, formerly of Teme Road, Tolladine, denies 10 counts of child sexual offences, alleged to have taken place between January and November 1992.

The offences are alleged to involve three boys around the ages of four, seven and eight at the time.

The counts are listed under the historic names given at the time but prosecutor Simon Birch said that one, labelled an indecent assault, would today be charged as a rape of a child.

The jury heard the graphic details of the sexual offences, which are alleged to have taken place when Clancy was baby sitting the three children when he was a teenager.

The prosecutor said Clancy had breached the position of trust he was given, and after describing one of the alleged offences he apologised to the jury having to give them the “abhorrent details”.

Mr Birch said one of the alleged victims had said Clancy had told him it was a game, or a “sex lesson” during the abuse.

And speaking about another of the complainant's interview with police, Mr Birch said: “He was emotional and angry. He was emotional about the abuse suffered at the hands of Simon Clancy and the long term effect he said it had had on him.”

The prosecutor also told the jury of two offences Clancy pleaded guilty to of indecent assaults against an underage boy in 1993, and the following year, when he was 19, two further indecent assaults against two underage girls.

Mr Birch told the jury it was “powerful”evidence and relevant to this case because it demonstrated Clancy’s sexual interest in children, and those offences had been similar in nature to the ones he is now on trial for.

Mr Birch said in police interview Clancy had accepted he had baby sat the children, denied he ever put anything in their drinks, and said none of the alleged offences were true.

“He said he did not know why they would make it up,” Mr Birch said.

Mr Birch added that the jury may consider the reasons why there had been a late reporting in the autumn of 2018 of the offences but, just because it was decades later, “did not mean it was not true.”

The jury was then played the tape of a filmed interview taken in 2019. In it the man said 20 years after what took place he was now suffering from flashbacks, and had become a “horrible person” to be around at times. He recalled having being given a purple drink which ‘knocked him out’ and waking up in an unusual position, before being sexually abused. He added it had happened “too many times” and had “ruined his life”. The trial, which is being overseen by Judge Nicholas Cole and is expected to last a week, continues.