University IT worker denies sexually assaulting young girl

Wales Online

6 days ago

University IT worker denies sexually assaulting young girl
Kerry Price denies a total of 15 offences
Kerry Price
(Image: John Myers)
A university computer expert has denied sexually assaulting a young girl, saying the alleged incidents simply did not happen. Kerry Price has also denied downloading indecent photographs of children saying the images were automatically transferred onto his phone when he plugged it into an old computer left over from his former career running a computer repair shop.
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It is the prosecution case that 52-year-old Price began sexually abusing the victim when she was aged five or six by kissing her and that matters then progressed to him touching the child's genitals and breasts both under and over her clothing and underwear. The offending is said to have happened on multiple occasions and continued into the girl's teenage years.
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Price is also alleged to have secretly taken dozens of pictures of the female without her knowledge, including pictures of her in a bikini and a so-called "upskirting" photo, and of possessing indecent images of children found on his Samsung Galaxy S10 phone.
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Swansea University IT technician Price denies a total of 15 offences and is on trial at Swansea Crown Court.
Giving evidence from the witness box the defendant denied the alleged sexual assaults ever took place. As defence barrister Ian Wright took the defendant through each allegation Price denied it had happened and he denied touching the female sexually.
He did, however, admit kissing the female when she was 16 and admitted kissing her breasts and backside when she was 17 or 18 – all, he said, with the female's consent.
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The defendant was then asked about the indecent photographs found on his phone. Price explained that after working for BT and then Ericsson he had studied for a higher national diploma in computing in Neath Port Talbot College before opening his own computer repair business called PC Doctor in Ystradgynlais which he said he ran for around a decade.
He said he subsequently started a new computer repair shop in Bridgend and then in Dunvant in Swansea which he ran until getting a job at Swansea University in 2018.
In response to questions from the defence barrister the defendant said after the business closed he took the remaining unclaimed devices home and later set about trying to identify their owners by looking through them for any documents or other identifying content. For all the latest court stories sign up to our crime newsletter.
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Price said during the course of doing the checks in his garage at home one day he plugged his phone into a computer to charge it and saw files were being automatically transferred across. He said when he saw what was happening he pulled the plug and that when he saw the nature of pictures he deleted them from the gallery on his phone.
The defendant was asked about an incident when he was a running his repair business in Ystradgynlais when he had found indecent images on a customer's computer and alerted police. The owner of the computer was subsequently convicted of possessing the material with Price giving evidence in court. The defendant was asked why he didn't tell the police about finding the second batch of indecent images on the old computer in his garage and said he didn't know who the device belonged to, adding: "I had a family to think about, a good job at the uni. I wanted nothing more to do with them – I wanted to move on".
The defendant was also asked about internet searches made on his phone using terms such as "teen girls beach topless" and "naughty schoolgirl nude" and said he had used Google and had only been looking for material involving 18- and 19-year-olds. Asked by Judge Paul Thomas KC whether his searches had ever turned up images involving younger teenagers, for example aged 13 or 14 Price replied "never" adding: "They were always of age".
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In response to questions from prosecution barrister Helen Randall, Price denied deliberately downloading indecent images onto his phone. Asked why someone with experience in IT matters would plug his phone into a random unknown computer the defendant said: "I just plugged it in." The barrister put it to the defendant that on plugging in his phone into the computer he would have been asked via a prompt whether he trusted the computer and asked him why he would trust an unknown computer. The defendant replied: "An oversight on my part. A stupid mistake."
The barrister asked the defendant why the computer would automatically start transferring indecent images onto his phone and Price replied: "I just plugged it in and it started copying over." Price said he later deleted the images but accepted he did not do that immediately.
Miss Randall put it to the defendant that he had a sexual interest in children, which Price rejected. The barrister put it to the defendant that he sexually assaulted his victim from a young age, which Price again rejected. She also put it to the defendant that he had secretly taken photographs of the female for his own sexual gratification and again Price said no.
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The court heard Price has no previous convictions but has a caution for common assault and criminal damage from 2006. The caution relates to an incident when Price punched the man his long-term partner was having an affair with after finding them together at home.
Kerry Price, of Tan y Farteg, Ystradgynlais, denies a total of 15 counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, sexual assault, making indecent images, possession of indecent images, voyeurism, and recording an image under clothing.
The trial continues.