Mr Mulcahy was found not guilty on all three counts on January 21, 2022.

THE teacher accused of sexually assaulting a student at a Bournemouth private school told jurors he had no recollection of being alone with the complainant at any time.

Philip Mark Mulcahy, 58, was in the witness box at his trial at Bournemouth Crown Court yesterday, alleged to have indecently touched the girl almost a dozen times over two years while at the Bournemouth Collegiate School. An allegation also relates to a school trip.

Mulcahy, who had been a teacher for 35 years, told the court he had also been a rugby coach for a quarter of a century in London and the south east and even coached Jonny Wilkinson.

The defendant told the jury he coached people aged 16, 17 and 18, as well as adults, was a referee and worked with other coaches.

Jurors were told Mulcahy had been subject to regular personal checks because of his profession and rugby coaching and had never failed a check. He had also never been arrested.

He regularly went on school trips, and Mulcahy said because of his coaching he was good at keeping a group together.

Speaking of his usual day at work, Mulcahy said at breaktime he would go to the staff room “as quick as possible” and lunchtimes he would be in the dining hall for “first sitting”.

He added after classes, other students for the next lesson would begin waiting outside his room.

Asked why he told police he had never been in a room alone with a student, the defendant said: “I was under pressure. It’s not true that teachers would not be in a room on their own with a student, I would not knowingly put myself in that situation. Students may come in if they saw me sitting in my room.

“I may have spoken to [the complainant] at the end of a lesson to tell her how she was getting on. Other pupils would be in the room. I have never done it as a pretext to get her alone.

“I don’t recollect any time I was alone with [the complainant]. Normally her friends would be waiting if I kept her because they moved as a group.”

A check on Mulcahy’s devices found nothing relating to the complainant, no indecent images and no searches revealing a sexual interest in children, the court heard.

Mulcahy denies the allegations. The trial continues.