By Eric King-
A teacher accused of abusing four men 30 years ago has alleged his accusers are trying to exploit him for compensation. The old teacher told an intrigued jury the men are lying and trying to jump on a compensation claim “bandwagon”.
80 year old, Brian Truan is accused of intimately washing four pupils of the now closed Elmbridge Boys Boarding School in Ongar.
However, he told a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court that the four are likely to have been part of a Facebook collusion.
Unmarried Truan, of Church Road, Peldon, near Colchester, who is now trustee of a fund raising trust for children, taught maths and was a house master until he took early retirement when Elmbridge closed in 1994.
Truan claims all four complainants might have “colluded” on a Facebook group set up in connection with a potential civil claim for damages. He told the jury the four were lying about him touching them in a sexual way during baths or showers in either the school communal bathroom, his private school quarters, or at his home in Peldon. If indeed his accusers have been in touch with each other on facebook, it is quite possible they may have colluded. Yet, this does not mean their allegation is false
Under cross examination, the defendant said the similarity of the complainants’ stories was “evidence of a lot of collusion”.
“We know at least one was in a statement for Cambridge County Court to sue Essex County Council,”
he told the jury.
“Perhaps the others think they may also get on the same bandwagon and eventually, if this case is proved and the jury find me guilty, they may also be able to claim against Essex County Council.
“I don’t know if it is a financial motive but it might be.”
Truan continued: “There’s some connection on Facebook. I cannot say why they all made those [allegations]. All I can say is these things didn’t happen.”
Truan now faces nine charges, which he denies. Originally he faced 12 allegations of indecent assault between July 1985 and January 1988 involving four boys aged nine to 14.
One involves masturbation; the others relate to touching genitals and buttocks during washing. The jury has now been told by Judge Christopher Morgan it no longer needs to consider or reach a verdict on three charges relating to alleged incidents in the school’s communal showers.
The court has also been told that that Truan has become an active charity worker.It was told that he has set up an educational fund-raising charity called the Truan Trust, which financially supports children in Uganda.He is a trustee and it continues to operate.
The trial continues.