Medomsley prison guard Alexander Flavell accused of abuse

Alexander Flavell, pictured at an earlier court hearing, has been deemed unfit to stand trial

A prison officer exploited his authority to sexually and physically abuse young inmates in the 1970s, a jury has heard.

Alexander Flavell, 89, had worked at Medomsley Detention Centre near Consett, County Durham.

He has denied charges including misconduct in public office, serious sexual assault and indecent assault.

He is unfit to stand trial but jurors at Teesside Crown Court have been asked to consider if he carried out the acts.

Jamie Hill KC, prosecuting, said Mr Flavell was known as a bully who "inflicted sexual abuse and unlawful violence on several inmates".

The teenage "trainees" had committed offences and were at the centre to be punished, Mr Hill said, but Mr Flavell, whom they nicknamed "Fatty", persistently abused his position of authority.

"In other words, he took advantage of the power entrusted in him," Mr Hill said.

Medomsley was run as a detention centre for young male offenders from 1961 to 1987 and although it was operated under the so-called "short, sharp shock" regime, "it was never intended to give officers a green light to assault prisoners", Mr Hill added.

Medomsley Detention Centre operated from 1961 to 1987

Jurors were told that other Medomsley officers committed serious acts of violence and sexual offences and there was an "atmosphere of fear and violence throughout this institution".

The elderly defendant occasionally worked as a chef along with Neville Husband, who was convicted of serious sexual offences in 2003 and 2005 and has since died, Mr Hill said.

Mr Flavell, who joined the prison service after 12 years in the armed forces, is accused of serious sexual assault - which would now be charged as rape - by attacking an inmate in the hospital unit in 1971, Mr Hill said.

He is also accused of indecently assaulting a different boy in the kitchens with Husband in 1972.

Mr Hill said the teenager was forced to strip naked, covered in grease and repeatedly pushed and pulled through a kitchen serving hatch by the two officers.

Another complainant, who has since died, said Mr Flavell broke his arm by repeatedly smashing it against a wall.

The misconduct charge, which spans 1969 to 1975, related to a number of complainants who alleged Mr Flavell committed acts of violence on them, the court heard.

The defendant denied the offences when the allegations were put to him but had since become too ill to stand trial and was not present at court, jurors were told.

The trial continues.