A SUPPLY teacher has categorically denied sexually assaulting a number of young schoolgirls in his care.

Johnathan Clayton admits that he would give pupils hugs, help them to get dressed and let them sit on his knee but maintains there was nothing sexual about his behaviour.

The 27-year-old is accused of sexually assaulting six young girls at the same school over a six-week period last year.

His barrister David Comb asked Clayton if there was any truth in the allegations that he deliberately sought out young girls in his classroom.

He replied: “I would never go out and seek a child for no reason, if I knew a child was crying, I would go over and comfort them. I would not let a child cry in my class.

“I often put an arm round her shoulders, I would get down to their level and tell them they can tell me what happened. I would let children sit on my knee but that was to calm them down.”

Teesside Crown Court heard how the supply teacher had been accused of molesting a pupil under 11 at a previous school in 2017, but the case against him was dropped.

Evidence of that alleged incident was allowed to be heard by jurors in support of the prosecution case in the current trial.

Mr Comb asked his client how he moved on from that allegation after the charges were dropped against him at Durham Crown Court. He replied: “I wasn’t prepared to let someone who made a malicious allegation to ruin my career.”

The barrister then took Clayton through the allegations made by the six youngsters last year, asking him whether there was any truth in their claims.

Clayton told the jury that he didn’t recall some of the alleged incidents but did admit that he had helped one of the girls pull her tights up.

One asked whether he touched the bottom of one of the girls, he replied: “I have never sexually assaulted that child, she did sit on my knee but that was to comfort her.”

Cross examining the defendant, Richard Bennett, asked Clayton whether he felt shame or embarrassment after being cleared of sexual offences in 2017. He replied: “No, I thought ‘what a shame that somebody has taken and innocent action and put a spin on it’.”

When asked whether he touched the girls’ bottoms for his own sexual pleasure, Clayton emphatically replied: “No, I have never touched a girls bottom.”

Clayton, of Carlton, Stockton, faces 13 charges of sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 and denies all.