AN EMPLOYEE at Learn Direct in Lowestoft plied a schoolboy with drink before sexually assaulting him, it has been alleged.Richard Cooper initially met the 14-year-old when the boy approached him at a bus stop near Lowestoft bus station and asked him for a cigarette, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

AN EMPLOYEE at Learn Direct in Lowestoft plied a schoolboy with drink before sexually assaulting him, it has been alleged.

Richard Cooper initially met the 14-year-old when the boy approached him at a bus stop near Lowestoft bus station and asked him for a cigarette, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Over the next few months the pair saw each other again at the bus station and Cooper had allegedly given the boy cigarettes and alcohol and had taken him to a local pub for a drink, said Lynne Shirley, prosecuting.

She said that Cooper had then mentioned going to a different pub but had changed his mind and suggested that as he had cigarettes and alcohol at his flat they should go there instead.

Once at his flat Cooper had allegedly plied the boy with alcohol resulting in him being a 'little drunk', said Miss Shirley.

The boy had asked if he could watch 'You've Been Framed' on television and Cooper had allegedly said he could if the boy let him touch his genitals.

Miss Shirley alleged that Cooper had then sexually assaulted the boy and had performed a sex act on him.

She claimed that Cooper had then got the boy to touch him indecently and to perform a sex act on him.

The alleged offences came to light when the boy confided in a counsellor and the police were contacted.

Cooper, 55, of Whiting Road, Lowestoft, has denied two offences of sexual activity with a child and two offences of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

After his arrest Cooper said he thought the boy was over 16. He said he was a homosexual and thought the boy was the same or bi-sexual. He admitted that he and the boy had touched each other indecently but denied they had performed sex acts on each other.

The trial continues today.