A former supply teacher and ex-coach for some of Britain’s iconic Olympic superstars in the 70s and 80s is on trial for molesting children.
Cyril Carter, 68, worked in schools across south London, where he is alleged to have molested a child under the age of 13-years-old and sexually assaulted another.
The witness told a jury in Woolwich Crown Court that between 1983 and 1984, when she was 14 years old, Carter had picked her out as a potential GB athlete.
She told Judge Ruth Downing that Carter sexually assaulted her in a room off the main sport’s hall in Crystal Palace Park, pinned her down to the ground and kissed her in Bexleyheath’s Danson Park and forced her to come into his bedroom at his home in Queenscroft Road, Eltham.
The victim also told the court that Carter’s wife, Rita Carter, had known because she had shown her breasts to the girl as Carter groped the teenager’s breasts in his home.
“[Carter] kept following me around the school and making me come out of classrooms,” the witness said, “I didn’t want to keep going over it in my mind.
“I just wanted to run away from it.
“I just wanted to get on with my life.
“How easy do you think it is to tell someone you have been sexually abused?”
Carter had been a supply teacher in English and PE at Kidbrooke’s Thomas Tallis School when he met the youngster.
The witness explained she couldn’t tell the headteacher about what had happened because she was too scared.
“I didn’t tell her I was forced into his bedroom.
“I was ashamed to say anything.”
She added: “I wanted a career in sports.
“[Carter] said he had seen my potential as an athlete and I could go on to be a GB athlete with his coaching.”
As a coach, Carter worked with Olympic heavy weights like swimmer Sharron Davies, judo Olympian Neil Adams and judo champ Brian Jacks, who achieved national fame on the BBC programme Superstars in 1979 and 1980.
Carter has also written books on the discus with British strongman Pete Tancred and judo techniques with Neil Adams.
Carter was arrested at Heathrow airport on June 28, 2014, after returning from Thailand.
The ex-coach has been charged with six counts of indecent assault and five counts of gross indecency with a child under the age of 13-years-old.
He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The case continues.
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