A YOUNG man who accused an aide of Prime Minister Tony Blair of sexual abuse is himself a sex offender, a court heard yesterday.

Martyn Locklin, 41, a senior Labour councillor in Mr Blair's Sedgefield constituency, faces three counts of indecent assault against one boy, and two counts of indecent assault against another.

Mr Locklin, of Ladybower, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, also faces a charge involving a serious sexual assault, two counts of rape and one of indecent assault against a third boy.

The Sedgefield borough and Great Aycliffe town councillor denies all the charges, which were alleged to have taken place between 1988 and 1996.

Yesterday, Teesside Crown Court heard that one alleged victim had been convicted for sex offences on young children, boys and girls, when he was aged 12 and 13.

Tim Roberts, for Mr Locklin, said the accuser, now is his 20s, was given a conditional discharge for three serious sexual offences against young boys and sent to Aycliffe Young People's Centre. He said that the accuser had, in the past, also leveled similar complaints of being "interfered" with against two different men.

Mr Roberts also questioned the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, about several previous convictions for dishonesty.

The man claims Mr Locklin, then a care worker at Aycliffe Young People's Centre, crept into his room on more than 30 occasions and sexually assaulted him when he was 14 and 15.

Mr Roberts said the man had many opportunities to tell staff and other children in the home about the alleged abuse, but had not.

The young man told the court: "I was too afraid to tell anyone about it. He was a member of staff. I wouldn't have been believed."

Mr Roberts said Mr Locklin had consistently tried to help when the boy left the centre - helping him find work, accommodation and offering advice.

But he said that the young man had resented this.

Mr Roberts asked him: "Did there come a time when you thought you could stand on your own two feet and that his advice and support was a nuisance to you?"

The man replied "Yes" and said Mr Locklin had become a "pest".

However, Mr Roberts said the man had continued to remain in contact with Mr Locklin, turning to him whenever he was in need of help, which was always given.

The trial continues