Former Easter Ross youth soccer coach denies sexually assaulting youngsters he befriended
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A youth football coach denied he ever sexually assaulted any of the youngsters he had befriended, but accepted he slept in the same bed as them.
Mark McAuley, who lived at Hilton Cottages, near Tain, was giving evidence in his own defence on the third day of the jury trial at Inverness Sheriff Court.
He initially faced nine charges but fiscal depute Susan Love dropped three of the alleged sex offences at the conclusion of the Crown case.
Questioned by his counsel, Wendy Culross, he told her: "I loved these boys like they were my own family."
Asked if he ever assaulted them with a sexual motive, he said: "Never. They slept in my bed because there was no alternative.
"It was a small one-bedroom cottage and I did not have spare bedding. With hindsight, I could have put them on the sofa.
"Would I do it differently now – 100 per cent."
He agreed that he may have touched the penis of one of the boys accidentally while play-fighting. "There was nothing sexual," he added.
Referring to massaging legs and thighs, he told the jury: "I would massage in the context of sport."
Asked again if there was a sexual motive: "Absolutely not."
Earlier, the court heard he had turned his attention to another younger boy when the player he befriended stopped going to stay with him because he "felt uncomfortable" sleeping in the same bed.
Both boys told the jury that their parents had separated and McAuley became "a father figure" to them.
They took the witness stand to tell how they changed their opinion about McAuley, who ran the Do Soccer Academy in Easter Ross, when they realised as they got older that his behaviour was "inappropriate".
One told Inverness Sheriff Court: "Looking at the way he was with me and maybe others was quite weird and an adult shouldn't be doing that with a kid – sleeping in the same bed in just his boxers."
Two teenagers described how they would be massaged on their legs and thighs while McAuley wore only his boxers and often while he shared a bed with them.
"I was only 12 or 13 at the time. The last time I stayed was when I was about 14. I didn't like staying in the same bed with him. I was uncomfortable.
"He never did anything sexually to me. But he stayed in bed with me and that was crossing a line.
"I would say to my mum that I didn't want to stay. When I stopped going, he spent more time with another boy."
That boy gave evidence at the start of the trial and told the jury how McAuley would grab his private parts during play-fighting as he was pinned down on a sofa.
McAuley denies the charges.
The trial continues.
