A FORMER Hampshire PE teacher and athletics coach “abused his position” in order to sexually assault five different girls, including some as young as 11, a court heard.

Richard Hilary, 66, would “test the boundaries” of girls in his care by touching their breasts while dancing or, in one case, pushing snow down their bra, before encouraging them to

engage in sexual activity with him.

Winchester Crown Court heard Hilary incited several girls to perform oral sex on him during trips out in his car.

Married Hilary denies 14 counts of indecent assault against five girls under the age of 16 when he was a teacher at The Wavell School in Farnborough and a coach at Winchester Athletics Club.

He also spent 12 years as headteacher of Chamberlayne Park School in Southampton – after the alleged offences took place.

Rob Welling, prosecuting, said a number of alleged victims came forward after Hilary, of Droxford, was cleared of indecent assault against a child after a trial in May 2014.

Mr Welling said: “As both a PE teacher and as an athletics coach, the defendant cultivated completely inappropriate relationships with a number of young girls.

“He abused his position in both of these roles in order to indecently assault highly impressionable underage girls, who had a right to expect he would behave properly around them.”

One of the alleged victims sent an email to the prosecutor in the 2014 case and, through a “carefully crafted” questionnaire, other victims were identified.

The allegations in the 2014 case were made by a woman who claims she was indecently assaulted by Hilary on a number of occasions while she was a member of the athletics club.

In diary entries read in court, she said she had a “smoochy dance” with Hilary at a party and he made reference to bringing mistletoe for a “Christmas kiss”.

Mr Welling said: “You are hearing her evidence because it shows a propensity to target young girls and behave in a particular way - a sexual way.

“The kiss was a seemingly innocent request that tested the boundaries of the girls to see how far he could take them.”

The woman said there were other occasions where Hilary would give her a lift and encourage her to perform oral sex on him in his car.

Another member of the club described a “relationship” with Hilary in which she would often spend time alone with him and he photographed her in the bath.

In diary entries Mr Welling said could “hardly be more explicit”, the girl made reference to performing oral sex on Hilary and them sharing a bath together.

Mr Welling said: “It is not something she dreamed up in later years, but a record of events.”

He alleged Hilary would often take photographs of his victims and, in one case, a girl’s parents discovered pictures Hilary had taken of her in her gym kit and informed the school.

Another girl, who was a pupil at the school, made reference to an occasion where Hilary “shoved snow down her bra”, which Mr Welling said was “part of his method of testing the boundaries”, along with badminton games where girls would have to take clothes off if they lost a point.

Another girl said she first caught Hilary’s attention when she started at the school aged 11 and spent a lot of time alone in his office, before he assaulted her at a party.

Mr Welling said several of the girls had “crushes” on Hilary and so initially enjoyed the attention, with one girl saying she felt “responsible” for what was happening because she had not said no initially.

When one girl told her mother Hilary had kissed her, the parent confronted him and he explained he had “kissed her in a lapse of professionalism” because he had just found out his wife was pregnant.

Mr Welling said: “The explanation was accepted, though no doubt with words of advice. This was just an excuse to explain something that had more sinister motives.”

Hilary gave prepared statements to police in relation to a number of the offences and denied all of them.

The trial, which is expected to for last three weeks, continues.