A WOMAN accused of indecently assaulting a child in the early 1990s has described the allegations as ‘disgusting’.

Josephine Wagner, 74, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with three counts of indecent assault on a boy, three counts of indecency with a child, and one count of indecency with or towards a child.

The alleged offences took place in Didcot during the late 1990s.

Wagner is accused of masturbating the child, who was about nine years old, as well as encouraging him to touch her, stating she was ‘teaching’ him about sex.

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However, Wagner has denied the offences, telling the jury that the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has ‘made it all up’.

Giving evidence on Wednesday (June 12), Wagner said: “There’s not one bit of it that’s true. [The complainant] is a drug taker and a drinker.

“I think he gets in trouble and he thinks this will help him, that’s the only thing I can think of.”

When asked how she first reacted to the allegations in August 2019 during a voluntary police interview, Wagner said she ‘couldn’t believe it’.

“I just couldn’t believe it, what he was saying,” she said. “It was unreal really and then you start feeling dirty.

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“It’s done my head in. You’re weary of being in a room with a child on their own, you think, ‘Should I be here alone with this child?’

“It does change you, I’m telling you, it really does.”

Wagner denied the allegations and described them as ‘disgusting’ to the jury.

She said: “I’m not that kind of person.”

When asked how the criminal investigation has been for her, Wagner said: “It’s torture.

“It has gone on for five years now and I want to move away and move aboard but I can’t because this is hanging over my head all the time.

“From the moment I wake up in the morning until I sleep at night, this is all I can think about and I don’t think it’s ever going to go away, even after the court case.

"Whatever happens, I don’t think it will ever get out of my head.”

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The jury heard from the complainant on Tuesday (June 11) who said he has ‘no reason to lie’ and wants to ‘draw a line in the sand’.

He said: “I don’t need this anymore. That’s why I’m here today. I need to draw a line. What reason have I got to lie about it mate? it’s been 30 years holding this in.” [sic]

The trial continues this week.

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