A children’s home worker accused of sexually abusing a boy for seven years in the late 60s and early 70s has told jurors the allegations are lies.

Philip Collins is charged with one attempt to commit buggery and 18 counts of indecent assault, dating back to 1968 when he worked at Malvern House in Kenley.

All the charges relate to one person, who said he was seven when Mr Collins began working at the home.

He is accused of trying to have sex with the boy in his car when they were on their way home from a trip to a funfair in Battersea, after they had eaten steak and drunk red wine at a restaurant.

Giving evidence at his trial yesterday afternoon Mr Collins, of Worcester Road, Sutton, told the court this was a lie because the trip never happened.

Tim Forster, for the prosecution, said: “This trip, that’s only a fantasy of the [alleged victim]?”

To which Mr Collins replied: “Yes. There was a funfair at Battersea but I did not go.”

Mr Forster then asked: “He could not have gone to Battersea funfair unless you took him. He’s making up the fact that you took him?

“He’s making up the fact that you gave him wine?

“He’s making up what you did to him in that car as well?”

Mr Collins answered yes to all three questions.

He is also accused of playing with the alleged victim’s penis while bathing him at the home and fingering him while he was in the bath, until the boy was nine.

Mr Collins said he would have been one of the staff members responsible for washing the young boys but washing the buttocks would have only continued for children up to the age of six.

At seven years old, the age of the alleged victim when he said the abuse started, the defendant said he would have just helped them wash their hair and back.

He told the court he was not working at the home until the alleged victim had turned nine, meaning he would not have washed him.

Mr Collins is also accused of creeping into the boy's dormitory at night and touching the victim and continuing this when the alleged victim got older and was moved into the attic room of the home.

The defendant told the court this did not happen.

He said: “Someone could have walked into the bedroom at any stage.

“I’m saying I would not have gone to the boy’s bedroom after they had gone to sleep.

“If you were found in a bedroom you would have had some difficult questions to answer.”

He told the court he was no longer working at the home by the time the boy moved into the attic room so this part of the allegations cannot be true.

Another allegation against Mr Collins is that he would cup the alleged victim’s genitals while spanking him.

He told jurors he did spank the boys while they were bottomless because this is what previous staff members had done but told them he did not touch the alleged victim’s penis and genitals while doing this.

During the trial jurors have heard that he pleaded guilty in 1980 to indecently assaulting three boys at the next care home he worked at, between 1974 and 1977.

For these offences he was fined a total of £450.

Mr Collins told the court he had spent some time on remand while awaiting trial after running away for six months.

He made the decision to plead guilty as he said a police sergeant told him otherwise he could face up to five years inside.

The 69-year-old said the allegations had ruined his career so if he had stood trial and cleared his name he still would not have been able to go back to working in care homes.

The prosecutor Mr Forster said: “Was the police sergeant telling you that there might be evidence of a more serious offence?

“If you knew there was more evidence it might be a good thing to plead guilty.

“I suggest to you that no-one would have pleaded guilty if it wasn’t true.

“[The alleged victim] has told us his reasons for telling people what you did to him.

“He says what you did to him has had a dramatic effect on his life.

“What you did to him you would do to other boys in the next care home you went to. That’s because you were guilty of that wasn’t it?”

Mr Collins denied this.

The trial continues.