A PENSIONER is on trial charged with indecently assaulting young girls in the 1980s.

David Tilley, 77, is on trial charged with 11 counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14 and two counts of gross indecency.

He allegedly assaulted four young girls, who are now adults, all of whom cannot be named for legal reasons.

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Tilley, of Faringdon, has denied the offences and is now on trial at Oxford Crown Court.

On Wednesday (July 17), the jury were played the police interview with one of the complainants which was recorded in 2021 when the offence was first reported.

She told police that Tilley had allegedly inappropriately touched her in Abingdon in the late 1980s on several occasions.

“He was very nice when he wasn’t abusing us,” she said.

“He’d say, ‘Come and sit with me’…he would put his hand in my pants…he didn’t actually penetrate me.”

On another occasion, she alleged Tilley had touched her while on the sofa.

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She said: “I was sitting to the side of him on the sofa and I think I probably would have had been under the blanket as well.

“I think he had his own my thigh and then came in from the top of my knickers. I think that he basically would cup over my genitals.

“I don’t think he massively moved around a lot.

"I think he was building up and if he had the opportunity he would have progressed but I wasn’t there enough and I certainly started avoiding situations where that could happen.”

She said she thinks it happened ‘three to eight times’ but admitted she was speculating.

The jury heard that her mother then asked if Tilley had done anything to ‘make her uncomfortable’ after a friend had allegedly claimed Tilley had abused other children in the past.

“I remember a police officer coming to my room and explaining the court process,” she said.

“I remember saying I wouldn’t, I think I refused point blank.”

When asked why she has now come forward, the woman said: “My mum told me they didn’t go to court because of me.

“I always felt guilty that I put other children at risk, that I didn’t feel brave enough to do something as a child.

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“I thought I ought to do something about it. It took me a while to do anything because I didn’t know his surname.

“As soon as I had that information I called the police to report it.”

The trial continues.

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