A TEENAGER with learning difficulties was raped in his bedroom at a Suffolk residential home by a care assistant, it has been alleged.The alleged victim claimed that Craig Brown, who was employed by the Barleycombe Residential Home in Sudbury, held him down and sexually assaulted him while ignoring his pleas to leave him alone.

Jane Hunt

A TEENAGER with learning difficulties was raped in his bedroom at a Suffolk residential home by a care assistant, it has been alleged.

The alleged victim claimed that Craig Brown, who was employed by the Barleycombe Residential Home in Sudbury, held him down and sexually assaulted him while ignoring his pleas to leave him alone.

Giving evidence at Ipswich Crown Court the alleged victim said that Brown had worked mostly night shifts and described an occasion when Brown had allegedly started stroking his leg in a lounge area and another resident has asked him what he was doing.

The alleged victim said on five or six occasions Brown had come into his room at night and had touched him intimately before raping him on his bed.

“I said to him to stop and I don't want to but he said I needed to be honest with myself. I wasn't too sure about my sexuality at the time,” he explained.

He said that after the alleged attacks Brown told him to “keep quiet” and had then left his room. He said he had been scared of Brown and had not complained about him to other members of staff at the time of the offences

Brown, 47, of Second Avenue, Sudbury has denied three offences of rape in the 1990's.

The court heard that the offences came to light in 2006 and after his arrest Brown had admitted that he was bi-sexual.

He admitted working at Barleycombe but denied the allegations made against him

Cross-examined by defence counsel Stephen Dyble the alleged victim accepted he had made allegations against Brown in 2006 after being jailed and subsequently transferred to a hospital for an offence of arson.

The alleged victim accepted that before pleading guilty to the arson he had lied to police and a psychiatrist by claiming that his fingerprint had got on to the letterbox of the house burned in the attack while he was delivering fliers.

Catherine Jacobs a former deputy manager at Barleycombe said Brown had worked at the home for a few weeks before being sacked for falling asleep while on duty.

She said she had not been aware of anything untoward taking place between Brown and the alleged victim.

The trial continues today.