A MOTHER whose daughter alleged she was indecently assaulted by a music teacher 30 years ago said things like that were never talked about “in those days”.

Giving evidence in the trial of Joseph Arnold Thornton the mother said her daughter had revealed organ tutor Thornton “had messed about with her”.

She said there was an argument when her daughter was about 16 or 17 which she thought was probably about “tidying her room”.

It was at this time the girl made the revelation about the assault which she said took place when she was 12-years-old. But she had refused to discuss it with her mother.

“I have a very good friend who is a counsellor and I said why don’t you talk to her and she said she didn’t want to talk about it and it was never mentioned again,” she said.

She added: “In those days these sorts of things you kept quiet.”

Thornton, aged 84, of Montserrat Road, Johnson Fold, has denied the allegation and said he could think of no reason “none whatsoever” why the girl had made the claim.

The woman, now aged in her 40s, alleged Thornton put his hand in her dress and touched her left breast during a lesson. She claimed he said “I bet this feels better than doing your homework”.

When asked his reaction to the allegation Thornton replied “I did not do it”.

Thornton, who had taught between 20 and 30 pupils a week (including adults), said he did not remember the girl and when shown a photograph of her as a youngster still did not recognise her.

A former boyfriend, who had a relationship with the girl in the early 1990s said she had revealed to him she had a problem with intimacy because of something that had happened “years earlier with her piano teacher” but she had not gone into detail.

Thornton told the jury that as a teacher he was “a battle axe, a very strong teacher, very opinionated and most of all I was very much liked”.

The trial continues.