A headteacher at a leading girls’ school groped a teenage babysitter after offering to help her with her maths homework and attacked her on a church camping trip, a court heard.
Alistair Perry allegedly touched the girl – who said she ‘was on crutches and couldn’t leave’ – after she came to his home to look after his children.
The 46-year-old, who is executive principal of the ‘outstanding’ Colston Girls’ School in Bristol, is accused of two sex attacks on the girl.
Alistair Perry – pictured – is accused of touching the girl at a church camping trip and in his home
Churchgoing Perry is accused of massaging the 16-year-old before groping her breasts in his office at home.
The allegations came to light after she told her cousin Perry had groped her while on a camping trip with her church group.
Cardiff Crown Court heard the cousin then told the girl’s parents who in turn told police.
She told police: ‘He took me to his bedroom and he was helping me with my work.
‘All of a sudden he stood up behind me and started massaging my shoulders and put his hand down my top and under my bra and started touching, massaging.
‘That went on for about 10 minutes and he tried to kiss me. He said he was sorry he shouldn’t have done that. I thought that was it. But he kept going back to my parents to offer to help, but I didn’t want it.’
She told officers Perry touched her on a second occasion – after she agreed to babysit believing that he was out.
In an interview played to court she said: ‘I thought he wouldn’t be there. When I got there, his wife said to me that he wasn’t coming and he was marking all his school work so he would follow her half hour later.
‘I sat downstairs, panicking the whole time, what he would do. He came downstairs and said he was going to keep me company. He rang his wife and said there was no point going.
‘I was sat on the sofa and he came over and picked me up and put me on his lap and started doing different things to me.
Perry’s accuser says that he invited her into his bedroom before massaging her while she was on crutches
‘I was on crutches and couldn’t leave. I was trying to work out if I could escape.
‘But he put me on his lap and his hands were going everywhere under the dress, everywhere. That went on for quite a while then his wife came home.’
Perry, of Colaton Raleigh near Sidmouth, Devon, denies two counts of indecent assault which allegedly happened more than 10 years ago.
The school he runs was founded in 1891 using a legacy from Edward Colston, a merchant and MP who amassed a fortune from the slave trade.
The founder’s statue was the subject of angry protests in 2015, when Perry wrote to students warning them to ‘walk away’ if they are criticised in the street for wearing the Colston name on their uniforms.
The band Massive Attack have also refused to perform at Bristol’s Colston Hall due to its name.
The trial, expected to last five days, continues.
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