'Mum agreed' boy's lone lessons

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A primary school head teacher accused of sexually assaulting a pupil five times has said the boy was "the most challenging child" he had ever known.

Christopher Barker, 45, head of Ysgol Tan y Fron in Wrexham, denies all five charges.

He told Mold Crown Court the one-to-one sessions with the youngster had been agreed with the boy's mother.

Mr Barker, of Penfold Way, Dodleston near Chester, said: "I did not think of my own safety in that respect."

Giving evidence on the third day of the trial, Mr Barker denied treating the boy as a favourite.

He said his lone sessions with the youngster in the office, the school hall and in the upstairs room in the adjoining school house had not been for privacy, but because that was where he happened to be working at the time.

I was doing what I thought was right to help this child Christopher Barker, defendant

When an education authority leaflet - advising teachers to avoid being alone with children - was produced in court, he said he had not been aware of it.

Mr Barker, who has been teaching for more than 20 years, said that with hindsight he now appreciated the danger that he had put himself in.

He told the court the one-to-one sessions had begun after he had spoken to the boy's mother following an incident at which the youngster had used a four-letter word at him in front of a large class of children.

School trip

He said: "I think I realised that all conventional methods to try and discipline the boy were just not functioning.

"I felt that the most important thing was that he felt that he belonged. It was not a conscious decision to have lone meetings with him.

"I was doing what I thought was right to help this child. I did not think of my own safety in that respect."

Mr Barker said that his approach to the boy had been successful and the youngster had changed to such an extent that he would run up to him in the yard, wrap his arms around him and say: "Hi Mr Barker."

Mr Barker denied all allegations of sexual or inappropriate touching made by the boy, alleged to be three incidents at the school and two more during a residential school trip.

The court heard the defendant took over the school in 1997 and had never missed a day's work.

The trial continues.