A BOY described how a man performed a 'gross' sex act in front of him in a swimming pool shower room.

The boy was just 10 when he says Neil Brown smiled at him, raised his eyebrows, groaned and panted as if he had 'run a marathon' as he performed a sex act at Droitwich Leisure Centre.

Now 12, the boy gave evidence behind a screen at Worcester Crown Court yesterday. Brown claims he was 'washing' himself and could not have carried out the act because he suffered from erectile dysfunction. The 53-year-old defendant of Alcester Road, Feckenham, denies engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child on December 16, 2017.

The boy said Brown kept getting in his way while swimming and later showered next to him. He said Brown pulled his trunks down at the front and took hold of himself with both hands, describing the action 'as if he was shaking a bottle' and calling it 'gross'.

Abigail Nixon, for Brown, put it that her client chose to shower on the opposite side to the boy and had his back to him but he maintained the defendant was next to him in the communal shower and had been facing him when he performed the alleged act.

The boy's father also gave evidence, saying he found his son in the changing room and he appeared to be 'sheepish and looking down at the floor'.

The boy later told his parents what had happened and they called the leisure centre and police. Brown was arrested the following day and police seized a Samsung mobile phone, an iPad and a handwritten note which contained the words 'me and 10-year-old friend'.

In Klik messages Brown told another user that he had performed a sex act on himself in swimming bath changing rooms, telling him he had 'no shame'. Internet searches included 'what boys do alone'. In police interview Brown told officers 'boys' referred to gay men between the ages of 18 and 22. He told them he was depressed, had suffered a breakdown and had erectile dysfunction.

"Having sex is virtually impossible and getting an erection is also virtually impossible. I could not have done what he said I did" he said. However, officers found photos of Brown in a state of arousal on his devices and he conceded he occasionally did get aroused. Asked by police if he had taken his penis out in front of the boy he replied 'not massively'.

The trial continues.