A SUPPLY teacher touched a young girl’s genitals when he was helping to get her dressed after a PE session, a court heard.

Johnathan Clayton is accused of carry out a series of sexual assaults on a number of young girls last year.

The young girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told specially trained police officers that Clayton touched her ‘winky’ while he was pulling on her clothes.

In a recorded police interview, the young girl told how Clayton touched her inside her knickers while he was helping her get dressed.

When asked how this made her feel, she replied: “I didn’t like it.”

She said: "The man was helping me and I didn't even need any help", she said, "I didn't really like it."

The officer asked how Clayton reacted when he touched her, she replied: “When he touched my winky he was laughing.”

The alleged victim told officers that she told her mum and dad about the teacher helping her to get dressed when she got home on the night of alleged incident.

Throughout the trial the judge and the barristers will not be wearing their usual court attire in an attempt to make the experience less intimidating for the young girls while they are giving their evidence during the two-week trial.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 27-year-old left the children feeling “uncomfortable” and was labelled “weird” and “creepy” by one alleged victim.

Clayton, of Carlton, Stockton, faces 13 charges of sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 and denies all.

The court was told he carried out the assaults over a six-week period in 2019 on six girls aged between seven and 11 – the alleged offences are involved children from a school away from the Stockton area but can't be identified for risk of identifying any of the alleged victims.

Earlier the jury heard how the defendant used his position as a supply teacher to target the young girls by isolating them before touching them inappropriately.

Prosecutor Richard Bennett described Mr Clayton as a “charismatic opportunist with a propensity to take advantage of young girls”.

The court heard children initially found Mr Clayton "funny and kind", but that his behaviour changed over time.

Among the allegations are that he helped one girl undress and touched her and touched another girl at his desk.

The court heard that after his arrest, Mr Clayton told police officers he had never intentionally touched a child, describing the allegations against him as “Chinese whispers”.

The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.