The brother of a Bury St Edmunds teacher accused of sexually assaulting two children has told a jury he believed completely in his brother’s innocence.

Richard Taylor, 56 and of West Road, Bury St Edmunds, stands 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.

Taylor has denied all of the 19 charges, which include rape, indecent assault and gross indecency.

In court on Thursday was Taylor’s brother, Damien Taylor.

He told the court that he considered the defendant to be his best friend, and that he was “proud to call him my brother”.

The court heard that after a career in insurance, Taylor had trained as a teacher.

Mr Taylor said that, as teenagers and then young men, his brother had been in a number of relationships with women, and that he believed his brother to be “100% straight”.

He said that he had never had any qualms about leaving his brother with any of his own children.

Mr Taylor ended his evidence by telling the jury that he had been at the trial every day and wouldn’t have done so had he not believed absolutely in his brother’s innocence.

Also giving evidence was David Pritchard, who knew Taylor as a child when the two were  neighbours in Rougham. He told the court there were numerous times when the two were alone together, such as when they would go camping.

At the time, Mr Pritchard would have been 11 while Taylor would have been 19.

Mr Pritchard said that Taylor had never said or done anything which left him feeling unsettled. He described Taylor as a “kind, generous person”.

The trial continues.

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