A 13-year-old boy had prayed for the “strength and courage” to expose a priest’s alleged sexual abuse, a court was told yesterday.

The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that the Rev David Smith had taken advantage of him after he joined the choir at St John the Evangelist Church in Clevedon, Somerset.

Bristol Crown Court was told that Mr Smith had hugged him and told him that he loved him after inviting him to the vicarage for Sunday dinner.

The trial has been told how concerns about Mr Smith had been raised with the Church of England on two occasions, first in the early 1980s and again in 2001. Despite the Church’s reassurance that the matter had been “dealt with”, it is alleged that Mr Smith continued to abuse boys.

Mr Smith, 52, is accused of abusing seven boys aged under 16 between 1976 and 2005. He denies the charges.

In a taped interview played to the court, one of the alleged victims said that Mr Smith gave him a prayer book as a reward for helping during services. “He’s basically a mentor because I want to be a priest or a vicar, and because I don’t know my own dad he’s like a dad figure,” he said.

The boy said that he often went round to the vicarage for lunch and that on one occasion Mr Smith “gave me a hug then he sat next to me while we were watching TV”. He said that Mr Smith then sexually assaulted him, and that he was abused on three further occasions. “He told me stupid things like he loved me.”

The boy said that in 2005 he finally told a friend what had happened. “I asked the Lord . . . to tell me what I should do and for strength and courage.”

The trial continues.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• UK regional accents thrive against the odds
• ‘Scarecrow’ wind farms put rare birds to flight
• What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth