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Schoolchildren lured onto couples' canal boat for game of strip poker, court hears

Two schoolchildren from Rugeley were enticed on to a couple's canal boat for a game of strip poker, jurors heard.

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Stafford Crown Court

As the game progressed and clothes were discarded, Elisa Clifton and her partner Robert Orr engaged in sexual acts under a blanket in front of the 13-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy, Stafford Crown Court was told.

The couple then went into a bedroom area separated only by a curtain and had sex, claimed Mr Simon Rippon prosecuting.

Mr Rippon said that the next day, the girl was back on the boat having a play-fight with a friend when Orr joined in and touched her in a sexual way.

Orr, aged 41, and Clifton, 25, both of Sidney Road, Draycott, Derby, both deny two charges of inciting a child to engage in strip poker and two of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. Orr also denies sexual activity with the girl.

Mr Rippon told the jury the couple had moored their boat at Rugeley at the end of May last year when children were on holiday from school.

"Two young children, having been enticed on to the canal boat were provided with food, alcohol and cigarettes and the time came when they had been swimming in the river and these defendants proposed they play strip poker.

"As the game progressed, clothing was removed, as is the rules of strip poker. The defendants, losing items of clothing, had a towel wrapped around them."

Mr Rippon said that sexual acts then took place between Orr and Clifton. He continued that, when the game came to an end, the defendants went in to a bedroom shielded only by a curtain and had sex "knowing two young children were on the boat, knowing they had invited them to play this game and knowing the ages of the children."

The next day, when the girl was on the boat with a friend, it is alleged Orr took it upon himself to engage in their play-fight and saw his chance to put his hand under her clothing and touch her. She was made to feel very vulnerable and asked to stop, which Orr did, the court heard.

Soon afterwards, it was said the children broke off their contact with the couple, but kept in touch via Facebook.

"There were Facebook messages during which Orr agreed they had played strip poker," claimed Mr Rippon.

When questioned by the police, Clifton claimed it was the boy's idea to play strip poker, she insisted on covering herself and her partner with a quilt. She said her hand was only on her partner's knee and the boy kept trying to pull the quilt off them. After the game, she said, she went into the bedroom to get changed, Orr followed her in, they had a kiss and a cuddle, but nothing else. She denied giving the children alcohol or cigarettes.

Orr said the children had come to see their canal boat as "a youth club". He claimed the girl had been flirting with the other children and it was the boy's idea to play strip poker.

The trial continues.

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