Abuse charge ex-policeman Gordon Anglesea 'lied under oath'

A former police superintendent accused of historical sexual abuse has been accused of deliberately lying on oath.

Mold Crown Court heard Gordon Anglesea was trying to "wriggle out" of the fact he "said two vastly different things" during a High Court libel action in 1994, and the current trial.

Mr Anglesea, 79, of Old Colwyn, Conwy, denies abusing two boys in the 1980s.

The court has previously heard one complainant claim sexual abuse by Mr Anglesea in a shower block.

Last week, during questioning by his own barrister, Mr Anglesea told the court he visited a shower area of a Home Office attendance centre he used to run "once or twice".

Cross-examining Mr Anglesea on Monday, Eleanor Laws QC, referred to evidence he gave in the 1994 libel case, which resulted in Mr Anglesea being awarded nearly £400,000 in damages.

In 1994, under oath, he was asked: "Did you stand in the showers watching the boys regularly?"

He had answered: "I went to the showers on every occasion the attendance centre was open."

'Misconstrued'

Mr Anglesea confirmed to the court he had been given the chance to read through the libel transcript over the weekend.

He said: "I read it and I realised there was an interpretation on there which to me was incorrect."

He said his libel evidence could have been "misconstrued" and he did not go into the shower area every time.

Ms Laws accused him of lying under oath, either during the libel action, or to the present jury.

She said he was trying to "wriggle out of the fact you said two vastly different things".

She accused him of making things up, to which he replied: "I have made nothing up at all."

He has also denied "enjoying" watching boys shower at an attendance centre which he ran in Wrexham.

Miss Laws said: "I suggest that you were there every single week, looking at boys naked time and time again, smiling, smirking and enjoying yourself."

But Mr Anglesea replied: "That is completely untrue."

He denies one charge of indecent assault against one boy, and two charges of indecent assault and one serious sexual assault against another.

The trial continues.