A Keighley toy shop owner has gone on trial accused of indecently assaulting four women.

A jury at Bradford Crown Court has this week been hearing evidence from two of George Barry Walker's alleged victims. Both women broke down in tears as they described a series of allegations ranging from sexual remarks to kissing one of them on the breasts during an incident at Walker's home in June 1996.

Walker, a married man who lives at Chevin Avenue, Menston, has denied a total of 12 charges of indecent assault covering a period between October 1995 and June 1997. He told police following his arrest that the women had made the complaints out of vengeance.

Walker, who owns Conways Toymaster in Cavendish Street, admitted being a 'tactile sort of person' but denied doing anything indecent.

Under cross-examination by Walker's barrister one of the women said she had eventually made her complaint to police some ten months after the alleged incidents because he had to be stopped.

"He has not only done it to me, he's done it to others and he had to be stopped," she said. "I've had to live with it night after night. If he's not stopped he's going to go further still. He doesn't know when to stop or how to stop. I should have done something a long time ago."

The woman alleged that the final assault took place after she was driven by Walker to his home in Menston. She claimed that he pulled her onto his knee, kissed her on the mouth and pushed up her T-shirt before kissing her breasts.

Walker's barrister, Robert Smith QC, asked her why she had gone in his car to the house, bearing in mind that there had allegedly been previous incidents. "I was stupid and silly," she said. "I sat there and said nothing because I was frightened." She denied that she had invented the incidents or that her complaint had grown out of resentment towards Walker.

The second woman described how Walker began by making comments of a sexual nature and then progressed to kissing her on the forehead and lips. She alleged that Walker also made her sit on his knee and touched her legs. The married woman claimed that Walker also patted her on the bottom and fiddled with her bra strap.

She eventually made a complaint to the police in July last year after Walker allegedly pulled her onto a settee and kissed her on the lips. "He was just holding me and moving his hands up and down trying to find a way into my clothing, but my arms managed to block him at every move," she said. She told him she had to go for her kids and went to a friend's house. "I was crying, shocked and dazed," she said.

Walker was arrested and questioned by police about alleged incidents involving a total of four women.

He claimed that all the women, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had made complaints out of 'vengeance'.

The trial, which is expected to finish next week, continues.

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