A 56-year-old man gave a 13-year-old boy alcohol and then raped him, a court has heard.

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.

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

Closing the prosecution case, Richard Potts re-iterated the details of the rape the court had already heard.

Mr Potts described how Taylor normalised a pattern of abuse so that the children did not question it.

Taylor denies that any of the alleged abuse ever happened.

Mr Potts said none of the character witnesses called were present when  the abuse is alleged to have taken place and questioned how well they truly knew the defendant.

He explained to the jury the children only realised what had happened was not normal later in life.

“I didn’t realise at the time things were wrong,” one of the complainants told the trial.

Mr Potts said both the complainants had suffered a great emotional upheaval in their lives by bringing the allegations forward.

Concluding the prosecution case, Mr Potts asked the jury to consider one final question: “You’ve seen and heard the defendant. Was he being truthful to you?”

On Monday the court will hear the defence closing speech.

The trial continues.