A man accused of carrying out a campaign of abuse on boys over a period of more than a decade tried to take his own life after two of his accusers attempted to blackmail him.
William Brown took an overdose of tablets and ended up in hospital after two men, who claim to have been sexually abused as children, tried to extort thousands of pounds from him.
The 77-year-old is on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen facing a total of six charges involving four schoolboys.
He is accused of two counts of using lewd and libidinous behaviour, two charges of indecent assault and two charges of having an “unnatural carnal connection” with two of the complainers.
He denies all the allegations against him.
Yesterday, the court heard evidence from one of his alleged victims who told jurors he had been repeatedly abused by Brown as a young boy.
He said years later, in 2000, he and another one of Brown’s accusers turned up at his home in Kintore and demanded money to keep quiet about the alleged abuse.
They told him if he refused to come up with the cash they would go to the police.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court that the next day Brown turned up at his door and offered him £400.
He said he refused the money as he felt guilty for trying to extort the pensioner.
However, the court heard that following the threats Brown tried to kill himself by overdosing on medication and ended up in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary before being moved to Cornhill Hospital for treatment.
The man said that, during Brown’s stay in hospital, he went to visit him to make sure he was ok.
He said: “I felt bad. I didn’t want him to try to take his own life.”
Jurors were also played excerpts of Brown’s police interview yesterday where he refused to comment on any of the allegations currently before him.
When asked by one of the interviewing officers whether he denied the accusations.
He said: “I am not denying it but I am not admitting it either.”
Brown, who has never been married and has no children of his own, also told the officers that he had been abused as a child.
He said it was something which had affected his life greatly.
During the interview Brown, of 22 Dublin Quay, Irvine, was asked how he thought the alleged abuse had affected the men who had made the complaints against him.
He replied: “Same as me I suppose.”
The trial continues.
