Telford magistrate and former deputy head in court on six rape charges against woman with learning disability

Santokh Minhas, 67, took advantage of the woman, who was more than 40 years younger than him, a jury at Worcester Crown Court, sitting at the Shirehall in Hereford, was told.

Minhas, of Sutton Bank, Coalport, is standing trial after denying six charges of rape against the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons. The assaults are said to have taken place between August 2014 and May last year.

Mr Edward Burgess, prosecuting, said: "The prosecution case is that on repeated occasions he (Minhas) took advantage of her sexually, and had full sexual intercourse with her in circumstances where she was not consenting."

The prosecutor told the court the matter came to light in June last year when the woman confided in a friend at the same college she was studying at.

Teachers were informed and the police were notified, Mr Burgess told the court, after the woman told her friend she had sex "but did not want to" and feared she may be pregnant.

The jury was told Minhas had been deputy headmaster at a school in Oswestry before moving to the John Hunt School in Telford.

He has also served as a magistrate in Telford.

The court heard that in police interview Minhas told officers the woman was a "fantasist" who "always wanted to be the centre of attention".

He said he could not have sexually assaulted her because he suffered from erectile dysfunction.

The trial continues.