Allan Richards trial: 'I was confused' says abuse claim officer
A police officer accused of abusing young boys while serving in the West Midlands force told a jury he was 'confused' about his sexuality at the time of the alleged offences.
Allan Richards, also a former Scout master, told Birmingham Crown Court he was a homosexual but had relationships with women during the early 1980s.
Appearing in the dock wearing spectacles, a blue shirt, and grey jumper, he denied touching boys in swimming pools, at Scout camps and other locations.
Asked about the alleged incidents by defence counsel Mr Timothy Raggatt QC, Richards said: "It never happened." Asked to describe his sexuality in the 1980s, he added: "Quite confused."
Put to the defendant that admitting to being a gay police officer at the time would have been difficult, he said: "Yes. Policing in the 70s and 80s was about being very macho, it was about drinking, you had to be a womaniser, that sort of thing. If I would have said I was homosexual I would have been ostracised."
Richards told the jury he became more sure about his sexuality in the early 1990s.
He also said he had an unblemished record as an officer – becoming a detective constable – and had never been disciplined in 30 years service with the West Midlands force.
The 54-year-old denies 12 counts of indecent assault against eight boys aged 11 to 15, over 21 years from 1982 to 2003.
The jury was told Richards allegedly looked up his victims on the police computer more than 150 times decades after the claimed abuse. Asked about the searches, he said: "I was being nosey."
During searches of his home, police found diaries where it is alleged Richards recorded 'touching' boys. It is also claimed he kept a note of the boy's body hair.
Police also found a hard drive that contained a list of male names it is alleged he had a 'sexual interest' in.
Asked about the notes in the diaries he confirmed they were written in his handwriting but did not know what they were referring to.
Asked if he had done anything 'untoward' towards the boys, he replied: "Not at all."
But he did admit to 'dunking' boys under the water on scout trips to swimming pools, describing it as 'people messing around'.
The defendant, formerly of Thaxted Road, Tile Cross, Birmingham, was kicked out of the Scout movement in 2004.
The trial continues.
