A JURY heard that a man delayed his wedding after being investigated for historic child sex offences in Witney.

Ashley Hookway, 31, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with eight counts of child sexual abuse which is alleged to have occurred in the early 2000s.

It is alleged that Hookway sexually abused a boy, who was at his youngest five years of age, when Hookway himself was aged between 11 and 14.

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The boy, who is now an adult, cannot be named for legal reasons. He first reported the allegations to police in late 2020.

Hookway, of Shaw Court, Aylesbury, has denied the offences and is now on trial which is expected to last four to five days.

During the opening of the trial on Wednesday (July 31), Hookway’s defence began when he told the jury that he was due to get married but has had to delay it due to the trial.

He has been with his partner, Andrew, for 14 years.

Hookway said: “We were planning to get married in a couple of years. Sadly, we’ve had to postpone that due to the ongoing investigation and trial.”

When asked by his defence barrister what his partner would do if he had been sexually abusing young boys, Hookway said: “He would have left me.

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“I know the man he is, he would have done the right thing and contacted police.”

The jury heard that the police investigation began due to the complainant and his mother allegedly sending ‘harassing’ messages to Hookway on social media.

In a prepared statement to police, Hookway wrote: “These allegations are malicious and a deliberate attack on my character for a reason unknown to me.

“I’ve been sent messages which I view as harassing.”

The dental practice receptionist said he ‘absolutely never’ touched the complainant in a sexual way, telling the jury that he had not become sexually active until his late teens.

He added that the pair had always been supervised by adults as children and were never left alone.

It is alleged that, as children, the complainant had reportedly called Hookway a ‘b****’.

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“I felt it was a very out of left field comment to say,” he said. “I thought it was quite a feminine word to use.

“I did not wear make up or have my nails done, I was very feminine in the way I held myself and the way I spoke and that was how I was back then.”

The trial, which is expected to last several days, continues this week.