A FORMER radio DJ and football club announcer has vehemently denied paying children for sex.

Mark Page told jurors his mobile phone and digital accounts had been hacked when a series of sexually explicit messages were sent a person in the Philippines to arrange to have sex with a child.

And jurors were told to remember Jimmy Savile when considering the defendant's good character as the prosecution’s case came to an end.

In her closing speech to the jury, Jo Kidd said being highly-regarded by friends and family and conducting charity work, did not mean Page was incapable of these offences.

Ms Kidd said there was almost a “state funeral” for Savile, with his golden coffin taken through the streets of Leeds.

She added: “I am not saying this on the basis that just because Mr Page was a Radio One DJ, that it makes him guilty of these offences.

“But it is worth noting, when one puts on a public face, when one carries out charity work, it does not mean the underbelly of their sexual depravity is not real.”

Trevor Burke QC, defending, said the jury would not be helped by the reference to Savile.

He said: “What on earth the prosecution feel they can achieve by inviting you, as jury, to compare and contrast him with Jimmy Savile, I have not the first idea.

“It should never have been suggested and you will ignore it, it doesn't help you at all.”

Mr Burke said such comments fuelled Page's feelings that there was some kind of witch-hunt against him.

Teesside Crown Court heard how a Skype account called PeteTV124, which was connected to Page’s radio network business, was used to watch a woman perform a sex act on herself.

Under cross examination by prosecution counsel, Jo Kidd, Page maintained that someone must have taken control of his Skype account, his mobile phone, and his Western Union payment account.

Throughout the trial, Page said that his online accounts had been hacked and he was not responsible for the sexual messages or transferring money to young girls using Western Union.

The jury had heard how Page was in the Philippines in October 2016 and sent a number of text messages arranging to meet up with the young girl for sex.

In a series of explicit messages before his arrival and after he stayed at a hotel in the Makati area, Page is alleged to have asked the girl to arrange for him to have sex with a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy when he visited the Philippines in October 2016.

Page, of Snowdrop Close, Stockton, denies five charges of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence between August 2016, and April 2019.

The judge is due to sum up the evidence in the morning before the jury retires to consider its verdict.

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