A children’s home worker was accused of sexually assaulting three of his charges.

Gerald ‘Gerry’ Raffell, 74, faces nine allegations of sexual abuse relating to three boys in his care at children’s homes in Yarnton and Wallingford in the 1980s.

Jurors at Oxford Crown Court were told yesterday that the ex-British Army soldier, who was in his 30s at the time of the alleged abuse, denied wrongdoing.

Arrested by police officers in 2020, after the three complainants gave video-recorded interviews to detectives, Raffell said in reply to the caution: “That’s all got sorted. I thought they were decent lads. I want to go up there and knock heads together.”

Opening the case against the defendant on Monday afternoon, prosecutor Richard Milne said it was the Crown’s case that Raffell had groomed the boys by offering them cigarettes, alcohol and other presents.

The third complainant, now in his 50s, told detectives that he had repeatedly woken up in his dormitory bed to find the defendant pinning him down and performing a sex act on both himself and the boy.

“He would comfort him and tell him everything was alright and this was natural and in due course it would help them with girls as they would then know what to do,” Mr Milne alleged.

“In other words, as [an] adult spinning them a tale to try and cover up what he knew he was doing.”

While at Yarnton House children’s home, he said Raffell had grabbed their private parts as the boys were ‘sword fighting’ – or competitively urinating - outside.

Mr Milne said: “It may seem strange, members of the jury, but the Crown say [he was] taking advantage of what appeared to be a fun game that of course involved sexual abuse by him grabbing their penises while some of them, including [the third complainant] were peeing.”

The third boy was said to have left the Yarnton home as a result of repeatedly absconding. He was moved to Turners Court, a children’s home near Wallingford.

It was at the second home that he was allegedly subjected to a ‘painful’ sexual assault by the defendant.

Two other boys had made allegations against the man.

One boy claimed that Raffell had grabbed his private parts from behind when he was changing in the Yarnton House dormitory. He said he had made a statement to the police or social services at the time but ‘nothing ever came of it’.

The second accused Raffell of touching his private parts when he was in the bath. The boy was said to have run away from Yarnton House and was found with two ‘prostitutes’ in London. Raffell was alleged to have ‘intimated that this cleaning exercise was as a result of his encounter with the prostitutes’.

The boy also claimed to have woken up while in the staff room to find the defendant ‘playing’ with his genitals. “He said to Mr Raffell he would scream if he didn’t stop what he was doing,” Mr Milne said.

Raffell, of West View Road, Hartlepool, denies nine counts of indecent assault. The trial continues.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward