Former pupil tells of sex trips with approved school worker

A former pupil of an approved school told a jury yesterday that a member of staff treated him to special trips out in his car and then sexually abused him on the way home.

Rod Ryall, former housemaster, Scout leader and later director of social services, was accused of taking the boy to a youth club, a folk night and afternoon tea, then making him commit sex acts in a lay-by or down a country lane when they pulled over.

Ryall, 68, of Wheatley Drive, Mirfield, West Yorkshire, is on trial at Teesside Crown Court where he denies 10 counts of indecent assault on three alleged victims during the 1960s and 1970s.

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One accuser, now aged in his 50s, told the jury he was taken from Newton Aycliffe Approved School, where he had been sent after being convicted of housebreaking, to a nearby youth club in Darlington, County Durham.

Ryall parked in a lane on the way back and forced the teenager to commit a sex act on him, the court heard.

On another occasion, Ryall drove him to afternoon tea at Durham University, he said.

Ryall drove them home and pulled into a lay-by where he made the youth commit a sex act, the court heard.

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"I was reluctant to do it," he said. "I didn't like it. I don't remember his exact words but he persuaded me."

Ryall, who had been a housemaster at Aycliffe before leaving to continue his criminology doctorate at Cambridge and returned occasionally to the school as part of his studies, drove the youth to a pub for a folk night, the jury heard. He was given soft drinks and was again abused on the way back, he said.

He was also sexually abused when he brought Ryall his breakfast in his quarters. The Oxford graduate was naked in bed, the accuser said, and he persuaded the boy to get in with him.

The accuser, then in his early teens, said he was allowed to help himself to cigarettes afterwards. On other occasions he was given a few shillings, he said.

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Adrian Dent, prosecuting, asked the man if he liked the sexual contact with Ryall.

"I didn't like it, I learned to accept it."

The accuser said his life after Aycliffe had been marred by heavy drinking, and admitted he had more than 50 convictions for dishonesty.

Tania Griffiths QC, defending, said what he now alleged Ryall had done differed greatly from what he first told police in 2000, and claimed he was lying.

His allegations in 2000 did not result in prosecution, but police contacted him last year after another Aycliffe pupil made a complaint about Ryall.

Miss Griffiths suggested he was motivated by trying to gain compensation. The accuser denied it.

The hearing continues.