Sex-case lawyer hits at ‘Klan’ mentality

TEARS were shed in court yesterday by the supporters and accusers of teacher Neil Carr (25), who denies sexually touching young boys.

During a powerful closing speech at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court, his lawyer, Marsha Myers, tore into the parents of the young accusers, prompting one to wipe away tears while listening from the public gallery.

She worked to discredit what she referred to as “malicious, Chinese whispers” that had spiralled out of control among the pupils and their parents.

She argued the main accuser, who she described as “chilling, cunning and manipulative”, had fictitiously accused his teacher and that prompted his copycat group of friends to make similar allegations.

She said: “It was like rednecks, the Klu Klux Klan, with their pitchforks and torches out to make things as gruesome and dangerous to Mr Carr as possible.”

She added that confusion, contradictions and inconsistencies in accounts from the young witnesses exposed them as liars.

Judge Timothy Mort then began to summarise the long and complex case for the 12 jurors. They who must decide whether Carr is guilty or not guilty of 20 counts of sexual assault on a child under 13 — accusations he has strenuously denied.

After going through the chronological order in which the seven young boys made the allegations, Judge Mort said to the jury: “This issue is a cold, clinical assessment of the allegations of inappropriate touching and whether those concerned have told the truth.”

The judge in the trial, which has run for almost five weeks, referred to some of the stark revelations and intimate details that have surfaced as part of the case that he admitted had completely split a community.

The trial continues.





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