Head teacher abused girl all the time, court told

Neil Foden is appearing at Mold Crown Court for the second day of his trial

A teenager told police how a former high school head teacher sexually abused her "all the time", a court has heard.

Neil Foden, 66, of Old Colwyn, Conwy, was in charge of Ysgol Friars in Bangor and strategic head of Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle, Penygroes, both in Gwynedd.

He is on trial at Mold Crown Court alleged to have preyed on five youngsters - Mr Foden has denied any wrongdoing.

None of the complainants can be identified.

Warning: This article contains upsetting content

On Tuesday, the jury watched the video interview to police of the main complainant, known as Child A to protect her identity.

Mr Foden was arrested after Child A showed an adult an image of them in his car and screenshots of conversations referring to oral sex.

In the interview the teenager said Mr Foden had warned her she must never say what they were doing and had to "take it to the grave".

Child A told detectives the pair began to exchange messages on WhatsApp.

She said: "He would say he loved me. After a while it got a bit more sexual.

"After we kissed a few days later he put his hands down my pants, so the text messages would be like, what he wanted to do to me."

The officer then asked about the first time he molested her by penetrating her with his fingers.

She said: "I got really nervous because I have never had a boy do that before.

"He said it was fine. He carried on anyway. He was just carrying on if that makes sense, so I just let him do it."

The officer asked: "How many times did he do that?"

She replied: "After that, all the time."

Neil Foden denies any wrongdoing

She added that Mr Foden would pick her up in his car and, using what she described as “a fancy sat nav", drive them to secluded areas where he would molest her.

They would then get into the back of the car, which had tinted rear windows.

Each of the outings would each last between two and three hours, she said.

On one occasion, she said they went to a “muddy place” where there were hay bales.

They kissed in the back of the car and he sexually touched her.

She indicated to her lower waist where she said he was pressing and "pushing harder", adding he was "grabbing her and not stopping".

“He was smiling and not saying anything… I wanted to go home," she said.

She explained that they always made the arrangements by text and there could be hundreds of messages a day, which she deleted.

There came a point after about six months when she said she felt she did not want to see him anymore and had "mixed emotions".

"He tried to arrange to meet again by text… at first I said yes but then said I might not be able to make it," she said.

She then explained how she told two of her friends what had been happening.

One of them encouraged her to tell someone and she said she had "made my mind up that I was going to".

Soon after, she told an adult what was happening.

Under cross examination, the girl known as Child A, denied a suggestion by Mr Foden’s defence barrister Duncan Bould that the 66-year-old had hugged her and held her hand, but nothing else.

Becoming increasingly emotional, the teenager, giving evidence from behind a screen, said she did not agree that Mr Foden had never kissed her and that nothing sexual had ever taken place.

Mr Bould asked her if she loved Neil Foden.

“I don’t know how I felt,” she answered and said she did not have a “crush” on him.

She said: “I didn’t hate him, I don’t know how I felt, I was confused.”

She agreed that she had sometimes been concerned that he was losing interest in her but that she had not made the allegations up because of that.

She said when she told her friends about what had been happening she had been scared.

Four other children have also alleged sexual offences against the defendant, covering a four year period.

Mr Foden denies 13 counts of sexual activity with a child, two counts of sexual activity with a child in a position of trust and one count each of causing or inciting child sexual activity, attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence, sexual communication with a child, possession of indecent photographs of a child and sexual assault of a child.

The trial continues.