A 56-year-old man has been charged with sexually assaulting two children.

Richard Taylor, of West Road, Bury St Edmunds, is accused of abusing two boys starting from 1999, one from the age of 12 to 15 and the other from the age of 10 to 11.

The 19 counts against him include rape, indecent assault and gross indecency - but he has denied all charges.

At Ipswich Crown Court on Wednesday, prosecutor Richard Potts said the abuse had begun as touching and masturbation and eventually escalated into anal sex.

The court heard the children trusted him and that he would have a bath with them.

However, the anal sex stopped once the defendant got a girlfriend, and he reverted to only touching, the court was told.

It was only in Christmas of 2019 the complainants decided to go to the police about the alleged offences.

The trial continues.