Headteacher pinched girl's inner thigh and discussed sexual matters with another, trial hears

A girl has told a jury at Mold Crown Court that Gwynedd headteacher Neil Foden held her hands, resting on her legs close to her genitals.

Speaking from behind a screen, the girl - referred to as Child B - said: “I was very uncomfortable, I was almost in a state of shock. Eventually I crossed my legs to move his hands away.”

When asked by the defence barrister Duncan Bould if she did anything about it, she replied: "No, I didn’t know what to do."

Another girl told the trial Mr Foden had pinched her inner thigh.

Neil Foden, 66, from Old Colwyn, denies 20 charges including 13 of sexual activity with a child.

The jury heard how Child B described the defendant as one of the people she trusted the most and she continued meeting with him. She accepted that she now viewed these events in a different way following Mr Foden’s arrest last September.

She said Mr Foden held her hand on more than six occasions and discussed sexual matters with her.

Under cross examination, the defence barrister suggested that Mr Foden didn’t discuss sexual matters. She replied: “He did, I know he did.”

Child B described how Mr Foden would grab the back of her neck “to get me used to it, so I would grow out of being scared of it”.

She added: “I never asked him to do that. I told him I was uncomfortable with it and he walked around the back of me and did it again. I didn’t like that.”

The defence asked her if she was sure it happened. "Yes," she replied: “I stopped saying anything because I thought 'what was the point?' So I stopped asking him to stop.”

Child B said the defendant made comments if she wore a skirt. She also said the defendant told her she didn’t need to feel embarrassed about the way she looked. Child B said it was reassuring but also “unsettling.”

She said: “At times the way he said it, his body language and where his eyes were lingering, maybe it was reassuring but it was also unsettling.”

The jury also heard from Child C, who gave her evidence from behind a screen. She said the defendant had pinched her inner thigh and that he had touched her bare back underneath her clothes and he had rubbed her hair.

Mr Foden denies the allegations. The trial continues.