Alleged victim became violent vigilante, court told

Giving evidence on the fifth day of the trial of Hartlepool undertaker Gerald Martin at Teesside Crown Court, the alleged victim said he began taking revenge several years later.

He told the court: “I took up martial arts, and my confidence and my aggression went through the roof.

“I took revenge against some of the men, if I saw any of the men who abused me I would attack them.

“They were cruel perverts, they had hurt me to a degree they never realised.”

The court heard Gerald Martin was attacked by his alleged victim in toilets in Burn Valley Gardens in Hartlepool.

“I saw him going in there one day,” said the alleged victim. “I followed him in, and started to slap him.

“He cried and whimpered like a little girl. It was a good thing he left the toilets, because if he hadn’t he wouldn’t be here today.

“There was another time when I saw a man in there with a child, I’d seen neither of them before in my life. I told the child to eff off, and beat the man badly.

“To be honest, I smacked loads of them, and I was arrested for one of the attacks.

“I was a vigilante, but all that stopped after a couple of years.”

The court heard earlier Martin and two other men abused the alleged victim as he was sitting in a cubicle in the Burn Valley toilets.

“I’d been playing out,” he said. “I didn’t want to go home early because I didn’t get on with my father, so I went into the toilets.

“Gerald Martin turned me around to face the wall. After the assault was over, Martin gave me two £1 notes for being, as he said, a good boy.

"I threw the notes away because I was only getting £1 a week pocket money, so couldn’t risk my father finding out I had £2.”

Under cross-examination from Jamie Hill QC, defending, the alleged victim admitted he had consensual sex with Martin when both were adults.

“I know I did that,” he said. “But I don’t know why I did it.”

Martin, 66, of Valley Close, Hartlepool, denies seven charges of indecent assault, three charges of committing a serious sexual offence, three charges of attempting to commit a serious sexual offence, and one charge of false imprisonment.

The trial is in its second week and is expected to last three weeks.