A MAN who claims he was abused by two local entertainers when he was a schoolboy has denied he “latched onto” their names when making a complaint to police.

Giving evidence at Bolton Crown Court, the alleged victim said he was taken to a house in Darcy Lever in the early 1980s, when he was a teenager, and sexually abused by Geoffrey Axford and Norman Vernon.

The two men used to be a comedy act known as The Vernon Brothers, working in local pubs and clubs.

The jury was told that the man first made allegations of sexual abuse by other men, including third defendant, Kenneth Platt, to police in January 2014, but did not mention Axford and Vernon, who he believed were brothers, until a second interview four months later.

Vernon, aged 80, of Kirkwall Drive, The Haulgh; Axford, aged 76, of Fordham Grove, Bolton, and Platt, aged 73, of Wigan Road, Bolton, each deny four counts of indecent assault.

Vernon and Axford deny ever meeting the complainant and although Platt admits he did engage in sexual activity with the teenager, he claims it was consensual and occurred after the boy turned 16.

Giving evidence from behind screens in court, the alleged victim, now in his late 40s, told how he had believed Axford and Vernon were related, although they really only played the role of brothers in their act on stage.

He said that Axford would pick him up from Bolton town centre in his car, or he would walk to the house in Darcy Lever, where one man would wait in the living room whilst the other took him to the bedroom.

Philip Andrews, defending Vernon, suggested that the teenager had not met or been abused by Vernon and Axford.

“You picked up a name somewhere and latched onto it,” he said, but the witness insisted he was not mistaken.

“I was telling the truth,” the man said.

The jury was also told how the teenager had met Kenneth Platt at Fernstead flats in the early 1980s.

The complainant denied suggestions by Platt’s barrister, Clare Ashcroft, that he was older than 16 at the time.

But the alleged victim stated he knew he was aged 15 because he was still at school at the time.

The trial continues.