A MAN bought champagne for a boy's 16th birthday after they met in a gay teenage Internet chat room, a court was told yesterday.

Michael Britton, 51, told detectives he also supplied a birthday cake for the boy to share with his family, said Detective Constable Stephen Chinner, of Darlington CID.

Mr Britton, a petrol pump attendant and an artists' model in schools, had already bought the teenager a motor scooter worth £2,500.

Police arrested Mr Britton on sex charges and suggested he had been taken in by the boy, which Mr Britton denied. He said he loved the Darlington youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

They had been in contact for six months when Mr Britton travelled from West Sussex for the boy's birthday.

Mr Britton told police the gifts were sent in the name of Jenny, which he said was the boy's idea to avoid his mother's suspicions.

He booked a family room at a guesthouse in Grange Road, Darlington, but told the owner that his wife and son had gone to a relative's home in the town after a road accident, which was not true.

The boy told police that when they were alone, Mr Britton handcuffed him to a bed and committed a serious sexual offence. Mr Britton said the four pairs of handcuffs had been the teenager's idea.

Mr Britton, of Bewbrush, Crawley, denies rape, two indecent assaults, and two offences of taking indecent photographs of a child, at Teesside Crown Court.

The case continues.