Supply teacher John Alway denies sexually assaulting girls

SUPPLY teacher John Alway tried to rape or molest girls at two Bristol primary schools, a jury heard.

The three youngsters were all aged under 16 when the abuse occurred in the early part of the last decade, Bristol Crown court was told.

Alway taught one girl at a primary school in Totterdown and the other two at a primary school in the Filton area.

The 59-year-old, of Juniper Way, Bradley Stoke, denies attempted rape and three indecent assaults of one girl. He denies two indecent assaults and sexual assault of a second girl and indecent assault and sexual assault of a third girl.

The first complainant described how Alway touched her inappropriately as she sat on his lap in his classroom.

She said: "He made me feel special. I think it was the fact he picked me and nobody else.

"I think I was an easy target. It didn't feel unusual but at that age what do you know, really?"

The complainant recounted an incident in which she was stripped naked and lying on a floor when her abuser lay on top of her.

She said: "I think he was going to try and have sex with me."

She said the teacher who abused her wore a beard at the time, and it couldn't have been someone other than Alway.

The girl's mother told the court her daughter didn't tell her about the abuse until around June 2010.

The mum said: "I went to pick her up and she was quite upset.

"On the way to my house she told me. She said if I remembered the teacher, Mr Alway?

"I thought she was saying he was killed. She told me he abused her."

A second complainant told police the supply teacher taught her geography, history, science, PE and sometimes RE.

The child described that though at first she liked him and he seemed like the best teacher ever, he would slide his hand down her back and "squidge" her bottom regularly when she stood by him as he marked her work.

She said: "At first I thought he was doing it for a joke in some way.

"Halfway through when he was doing it I told my mum.

"I said it was bugging me and she said she would try and do something about it.

"He kept doing it, kept doing it, kept doing it.

"I thought 'I don't know who this man is'. The first time he did it I thought it was a joke.

"He kept doing it, doing it, doing it and it got me a bit worried."

The child initially reported Alway touched "our bums", but later said no other girls said it happened to them.

A third complainant said Alway touched her improperly when he was her stand-in teacher.

She told the jury: "I showed him a picture and he patted my bum.

"He did that a couple of times. It was me showing him my work and he said 'well done'.

"He would rub or pat the bum cheek. He was either sat at his desk or in front of his desk."

The girl saw Alway touch another pupil's leg, the court heard.

The case continues.