Woman says sex abuse made her feel 'filthy', at Arthur Shefford historic child abuse trial

As the trial into reported historic sex offences by Arthur Shefford continued at Oxford Crown Court yesterday, a second alleged victim gave evidence before jurors.

Prosecutors claim that 77-year old Shefford, of Abingdon Road, Oxford, indecently assaulted his four child victims who were aged between four and 11, on multiple occasions over a 10-year period.

Shefford denies all nine counts of indecent assault as well as one count of indecency with a child alleged to have taken place in the 1970s and 1980s.

A video recorded interview with police and one of the girls - who are all now women and cannot be named for legal reasons - was played to jurors yesterday.

In that video she said the abuse made her feel 'disgusting'.

She said: "I felt filthy, horrible, and he should not be able to do what he was doing."

Recalling her alleged ordeal she told police that Shefford had kept horses at a field in Oxford and had on one day when she was a child offered to let her ride one of them.

While on the horse, which was named Sugar, she claimed that Shefford sexually assaulted her and put his hands down the child's knickers before performing a sex act.

She told police: "He said it is nothing to worry about. it's normal, this is how you ride a horse.

"I thought it was normal, I was young then and that was that."

She added: "Nobody saw what he was doing, it was only me and him going around the field."

She said that that incident was the only occasion where she suffered any sexual abuse by Shefford and she didn't tell anybody about it until some years later.

During cross examination with defence barrister Lucy Tapper the woman denied suggestions that the indecent assault had never taken place.

Answering via a live videolink she said: "Yes it did, if I was lying I would not be in this court now. I don't lie."

Earlier in the trial jurors were told that Shefford sexually abused four young girls in the Oxford area over a roughly 10-year period.

Shefford - who was described as a 'pillar of the community' and a local 'character' - was, the court heard, a well-known television rental and repairman.

Explaining why the allegations had taken so long to come to court prosecutor Fern Russell said at the beginning of the trial: "Although it is not the dark ages we are talking about a couple of decades ago.

"Young people are listened to rather differently than they were then."

Jurors were also told how during police interview Shefford denied any of the assaults ever took place.

The trial continues.