Man ‘made sexual assaults on boys in his care’, court told

Garry Hoodless, 41, also indecently assaulted another boy on several occasions, jurors at Leeds Crown Court were told on Wednesday.

The offences were alleged to have taken place in the 1980s and 1990s.

Hoodless, who was living in Birstall at the time, denies 20 counts of sexual offences against the boys.

Andrew Kershaw, prosecuting, told the court the earliest offences against two of the boys took place between September 1986 and June 1987.

Hoodless, who was in his mid-teens at the time, was babysitting the boys, who were both under 11, in Heckmondwike.

He abused them as they sat watching TV with him.

“He would threaten them with a stick kept in the kitchen cupboard if they told anyone,” Mr Kershaw said.

The charges against Hoodless, now of Moorside Road, Dewsbury Moor, include buggery, indecent assault on a male and indecency with a child.

The court heard acts of molesting and buggery were carried out “frequently” by Hoodless.

The offences stopped when one of the boys complained to his mother and the family moved away. The police were notified and the boys were examined but nothing was found and no action was taken against the teenage Hoodless.

In a police interview in 2012 at Dewsbury police station, Hoodless called his accusers “junkies” and said it was their step-father who was responsible for the abuse.

The court was also told Hoodless abused a 12-year-old boy in his bedroom over a year-long period in 1991/1992.

On the first occasion, Hoodless entered the boy’s room and got into bed with him before abusing him.

In a police interview played to the court, the man, now 35, said: “That was my first sexual experience and it shouldn’t have been.”

The trial continues.