Former Wittering scout leader 'carried out series of sex attacks on boys'

John Edward Bates, who is also a former police officer in Spalding, is alleged to have committed offences against four youngsters in the 1970s and 1980s when he was a scout leader in South Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.

Bates, who faces a total of 22 charges, denies the matters and says the incidents never happened.

Grace Hale, prosecuting, told the jury: “This case is about allegations of sexual abuse made by four male complainants when they were all in the Scouts Association. It was during the late 1970s into the 1980s when the defendant was a scout leader.

“The defendant says nothing of that sort happened between himself and all these individuals. He says they are all fabricating their accounts and telling lies.

Mrs Hale said two of the boys were in the scouts in Cambridgeshire when Bates, who at the time was in the RAF stationed at the Wittering base, was a scout leader.

Bates, she alleged, invited one 15 year old to his home offering him the chance to look at cine films made at scout camps but then showed him pornographic films.

She told the jury that the boy was then sexually abused leaving him confused and frightened.

Mrs Hale said “The complainant’s recollection is that on a number of occasions sexual acts would happen with the defendant either in the defendant’s car or in his cottage.”

She told the jury a second boy was taken by Bates to for a weekend in London at the age of 13 or 14 and after visiting pubs with Bates was later sexually 
abused

Bates later moved to Spalding. Mrs Hale said two boys from another group had also made complaints of being sexually abused by 
Bates.

One of the boys told police how he was abused by Bates over a number of years including an incident where Bates took him to London to watch Chelsea FC play but then attacked the boy at their overnight accommodation.

The jury has been told that Bates was in the RAF before serving as a Lincolnshire Police officer between 1976 and 1983.

Mrs Hale said that in 1982 Bates was investigated by police over allegations of offences against other young boys and as a result was later prosecuted and convicted.

Bates , 68, formerly of Pinchbeck Road, Spalding, but now living in Camden, North London, denies 18 charges of indecent assault on a male, two charges of indecency with a child and two charges of attempting to commit a serious sexual offence.

The charges relate to the period between March 1972 and October 1989.

The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.