Man accused of sex offences blames mother of alleged victim

Mohammed Anjum insisted the woman was the driving force behind the false claims as well as wild allegations of satanic worship and demonic possession.

The 53-year-old is accused of exposing his glitter-flecked private parts to two young children – a boy and a girl – before carrying out two sex acts in front of them.

Mr Anjum, formerly of Egmont Road, Middlesbrough, denies two charges of engaging in sexual activity in front of a child, and gave evidence earlier today.

Later, defence barrister, Tony Hawks told the Teesside Crown Court jury that Mr Anjum was the victim of a smear campaign by the boy’s “dangerous” mother.

In his closing speech to the jury, Mr Hawks warned the panel not to jump to conclusions just because Mr Anjum has previous convictions for abusing children.

The court heard that Mr Anjum still denies the offences even though he was found guilty in 1994 of four charges of indecent assault against two young girls.

Matthew Bean, prosecuting, said: “This is a man who simply doesn’t accept what he did in 1994, a man who is now lying before you in 2010 about what he did two years ago.”

Mr Hawks warned the jury: “It is quite easy to find yourself falling into the trap of saying . . . ‘he is a convicted paedophile, we know that, so he is guilty’.

“It only requires a moment’s reflection to realise that an approach like that is not true to the oath or promise you took when you started to approach this case.”

Mr Hawks, who branded the boy’s mother “an obsessive, imbalanced, dangerous woman”, added: “An approach like that is illogical and it is grossly unfair.”

He said: “The one thing you must not do is assume that because the defendant has interfered with children in the past then he must be guilty of these offences.”

The jury is expected to retire tomorrow to consider its verdicts, once Judge Les Spittle has concluded the summing-up of the case he began this afternoon.