UNITED KINGDOM
Devon Live
By Paul_Greaves | Posted: June 05, 2017
A former Mormon bishop has gone on trial accused of sexually abusing two girls in Devon.
Stewart Allsford, 66, was a representative of the Church of the Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, at the time of the alleged abuse in the 1990s.
He admits indecently assaulting one of the girls when she 14 but denies five other charges of sex abuse. On the first day of his trial at Exeter Crown Court the jury heard from the alleged victim, now an adult, who said she had tried to hide what had happened from other people as she felt she was somehow to blame.
The offences only came to light when her boyfriend found her childhood diaries and discovered a page describing the defendant’s alleged attempts to kiss and touch her. She thought she had destroyed all the evidence because she did not want anyone to know.
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