Accused man takes to stand in sexual activity trial (From Dorset Echo)

Accused man takes to stand in sexual activity trial

1:30pm Wednesday 6th March 2013 in News

A DORCHESTER man has taken the stand to deny sexual activity with young girls.

Frank Maurice Cooper, aged 35, is on trial at Dorchester Crown Court on six counts of sexual activity with a child.

On day seven of the trial, Cooper said he did not sexually touch the two alleged victims on September 9 last year at a play area off Maiden Castle Road.

He said DNA from the first victim, found underneath his fingernails, must have occurred when he engaged in a play fight with her earlier in the day.

He admitted that the 15-year-old, who was 14 at the time, had been referring to him as her ‘husband’ but he denied calling her his wife.

He said he took her to one side to tell her to ‘pack it in’ after she had tried to kiss him in the Borough Gardens earlier in the day.

Martin Lanchester, prosecuting, said: “But you knew you had to be pretty careful with young girls.

“You had been to the police station a week and a half before and had been warned about another two girls you had been spending time with. Quite a big deal, wasn’t it?”

Cooper said that because the warning was in relation to two separate 15-year-olds, he thought it would be okay to be in the company of the alleged victims.

He said he may have accidentally touched the second victim on two occasions – once when he almost fell in to her and put his hands out to stop himself, and a second time when he brushed some dirt from her leg.

On Monday the court was told that Cooper had received a police caution in 1999 for having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

He denied allegations that he went to the play area on September 9 with the intention of engaging in sexual activity with the two alleged victims.

The trial continues.