A former boss of a Chatham camp site - accused of abusing children there more than 30 years ago - has told a jury the allegations were not true.

Donald Veale, who served in the navy and the army, denied carrying out the attacks on youngsters in the 1980s and 1990s.

Veale, 82 from Gibraltar Lane, Hawkinge had managed the Kent County Council and Scout Association-run camp site many years ago.

He said he had been asked to work at Buckmore Park after working on the Antrim Forum in Northern Ireland and as a recreation manager for Gravesham Borough Council.

“Buckmore Park was a 250-acre site and it was in a desperate state at the time and I was its director for two years.”

He was asked by his barrister, Oliver Saxby QC: “Did you ever sexually assault a boy and a girl in the swimming pool and elsewhere?”

Veale replied: “No.”

He also told the jury at Canterbury Crown Court that he denied accusations made by two of his alleged victims that he had swam naked in the pool.

And Veale also rejected a claim that when two children went swimming and had gone to the changing rooms he had said to them: “Can you take the towels off?”

But Veale admitted that some years ago he had been confronted by an adult who claimed that a child had accused him of assault.

He told the jury: “I said to them that I couldn’t afford accusations like that and that it should be investigated properly. I asked them to call the police but no-one ever did.”

Veale has denied sex offences involving three youngsters, which are alleged to have happened in the 1980s and 1990s.

Prosecutor John O’Higgins said Veale was also a manager of a care home in Romney Marsh, which has since closed down.

He said: “These are allegations of historic sexual abuse of three children by this defendant when he was in a position of trust.

“These are allegations of historic sexual abuse of three children by this defendant when he was in a position of trust" - prosecutor John O'Higgins

“During this period when they alleged sexual abuse, Veale was the director of children’s activities at Buckmore Park, which was run on behalf of the Scouts.

“The large campsite offered youngsters roller skating, go-carting, swimming and archery.

“And he was also a manager of a care home which has since closed down.”

Mr O’Higgins said two of the alleged victims, a boy and a girl, claimed they were assaulted by Veale at his bedroom at Buckmore Park and in the swimming pool.

The boy, he claimed, was “petrified and feared for his life” after being subjected to a series of attacks, including at Veale’s farmhouse home.

Mr O’Higgins claimed Veale, a qualified masseur, offered “chocolate as a treat after some of the incidences.

The prosecutor told the jury that one of the alleged victims had complained to social services about Veale’s behaviour on his boat in Folkestone harbour but no charges had been brought.

The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdicts this afternoon.