A MUM broke down in tears as she described being sexually abused as a child, groped in a swimming pool and indecently assaulted with a wine bottle.

The woman, who cannot be identified, wept as she recounted a catalogue of alleged abuse at the hands of Anthony Lane when she was a child in Droitwich during the 1980s, including at the Lido swimming pool.

The trial of the 78-year-old of Mayflower Road, Droitwich, began at Worcester Crown Court yesterday. He denies13 indecent assaults alleged to have taken place between 1986 and 1989.

Some of the counts are ‘multiple incident counts’ where a single charge reflects sexual assaults that took place on more than one occasion. Grace Ong, prosecuting, opened the case to the jury, laying out the complainant’s troubled home life, her mother at one stage pouring a kettle of boiling water over her head. Miss Ong described how Lane made ‘sexualised comments’ to the complainant and carried out a sexual assault when she was aged 13. “She felt embarrassed and she will describe how it felt painful,” said Miss Ong.

The prosecution case is that the alleged abuse progressed to Lane performing sex acts upon himself in front of her and attempting a sexual assault. The assaults progressed to full sex when she was 16, the prosecution say.

“He said ‘don’t tell your mum because it will cause trouble’” said Miss Ong.

Further alleged assaults involved the neck of a wine bottle and a pen, the court heard.

The alleged abuse was first reported to police on October 14, 2017. The court heard that the complainant had also disclosed the abuse to an aunt when she was in her 20s.

Lane was interviewed by police on May 3, 2018 where he remained silent. He did submit a prepared statement. In it he said: “I deny these allegations and this is all I wish to say at present.”

In a later prepared statement he said sex had only taken place when the complainant was 16 and was consensual. He also told officers she ‘fabricated the allegations out of jealousy’.

The complainant also began giving evidence without a screen.

When asked to describe her childhood she said: “Terrible. Awful. I wouldn’t treat anyone the way I was treated. It was absolutely disgusting.”

The trial continues.