A BOY suffered seven years of abuse inflicted by an older boy as part of a campaign of “sexual bullying”, a court heard.

Glen Williams, now 31, is on trial for one count of rape and three of indecent assault said to have been carried out during the 1990s when the alleged victim was between the ages of seven and ten.

Prosecutor David Richards told Bournemouth Crown Court on Monday that the “course of conduct one could describe as sexual bullying” started when the complainant was three years old.

“Glen repeatedly told him that no one would believe him, that no one loved him, and he believed that,” said Mr Richards.

The offences were said to have taken place in the New Forest.

The jury of seven women and five men watched a DVD recording of a police interview the alleged victim, who can’t be named for legal reasons, gave in 2013. In it he claimed Williams had put a pillow over his face during the incidents of abuse, and had pushed and punched him.

Asked by the interviewing officer why he initially didn’t tell anyone about what was happening, he said: “I was afraid of him, afraid he would hurt me.

“I thought if I just stayed still he wouldn’t hurt me.”

During his introduction Mr Richards reminded the jury that it was the responsibility of the prosecution to prove the case against the defendant, and he said they would have to decide if Williams, given his age, would have known it was abuse at the time.

He said Williams had described the allegations as “utterly ridiculous” when interviewed by police, saying there had only been “play fighting” and “rough and tumble”.

Williams, of Salisbury Road, Totton, denies all the charges. The trial continues.