A PUPIL said she was touched indecently by a special needs assistant during a lesson at a Bolton primary school, a court heard.

The girl claimed Erik Seddon came up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulder before touching her chest.

She told a jury via video link that she had seen Seddon touching two of her friends on the chest and bottom.

But Seddon, aged 57, of Westley Avenue, Roe Green, Worsley, who had been a special needs learning assistant at the school since 1998, denied any indecency and said the girl and four others must have made up the story. The girl said she had asked for help in the maths lesson and Seddon came and stood behind her.

She said he slid his hands down from her shoulders on to her chest and she claimed the alleged abuse only stopped when she said she did not need any more help.

She told a trial at Bolton Crown Court that she used to like him because he gave her money to buy a snack when she forgot her money. But now, she told the court, she thought he was "horrible".

Earlier the court heard from another 10-year-old girl who claimed Seddon had knelt down next to her in the classroom and indecently assaulted her.

The girl, who was nine at the time of the assault, said that Seddon touched her indecently in a classroom packed with children.

The girl denied she made her complaint following rumours that Seddon had assaulted another girl.

Seddon denies five counts of indecent assault on five girls at a Bolton primary school between December, 2001, and April, 2002.

(Proceeding)