A FOSTER carer groomed a teenage boy with drugs, booze, cigarettes and computer games before having sex with him, a jury has heard.

Samantha Hesler is accused of carrying out sexual assaults on the young victim more than 20 years ago and the victim says they had sex 'almost every night' for months.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the-now 50-year-old preyed on the youngster for around two years before the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, brought the illicit relationship to an end.

His alleged abuse only came to light when he broke down when his wife told him she wanted to be a social worker and he told her what had happened when he was a teenager, the court heard.

In police interview, the man said Hesler would give him 'anything he wanted', including cannabis, before their 'friendship' took on a more sexual element after she started taking him and others on classic car shows around the country.

"It got to the point were we were cuddling and progressed to touching and feeling in a sexual sort of manner until I was 13 or 14 years old," he explained as he told officers how he was spending more and more time in her Middlesbrough home.

The jury heard how the sexual behaviour continued until they had full penetrative sexual intercourse when he was still a teenager.

"I believe I was groomed over a number of years, she didn't give me any reason to leave. She used to buy cigarettes, alcohol and as many Playstation games as I could want.

"There was absolutely no reason for me to leave."

He said he looked up to Hesler because she was a social worker who fostered children,

The man told detectives that he thought he was 'in love with her' but realised that it wasn't real when he caught her kissing another boy.

He added: "In a funny way it set me free, when I saw that, I realised in my own head that this was never going to happen – I think it was for her own selfish needs."

Jurors heard that once the victim caught Hesler kissing the other boy their sexual relationship came to an end.

"Looking back, now at the age I am, I know it was wrong," he said. "Now I'm not much older than she was then, clearly she must have known it was wrong, especially doing the job that she did as well – she was there to safeguard kids, not the other way round."

The victim said he was threatened into silence about the abuse he suffered at the hands of Hesler and the allegations only came to light when he was an adult.

He said: "It should never have happened. I was 13, possibly 14, at the time of the very first sex. I shouldn't even know what it was about at that age."

Hesler, of The Dorkins, Great Broughton, near Stokesley, denies two charges of sexual assault on a boy under the age of 16.

The trial continues.

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