A JURY has begun deliberating in the case of a man on trial accused of a series of sexual offences allegedly committed against three women.

Matthew Tovey, aged 39, of Elm Close, Trevethin, Pontypool is charged with three rapes and 18 sexual assaults.

He is also accused of attacking one of the complainants when she was 15 and faces two counts of sexual activity with a child in respect of that alleged victim.

Tovey has denied all the allegations against him in the trial at Newport Crown Court which is now in its second week.

The defendant told the jury of six men and six women how he broke down and cried when he was first challenged over the allegations.

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The court had heard earlier in the trial from a witness, who is not a complainant, that she had challenged him after she heard of the accusations against him.

When he was asked by his barrister Marian Lewis to tell the jury about that encounter, which happened over the telephone, he replied: “I was upset, I was crying. I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m going to jump off a quarry.’”

His lawyer asked him if that last statement was an admission of guilt.

Tovey replied that it was not and that it was made because of his “panicked state of mind”.

He added: “I felt sick. I phoned my parents crying. I said to them, ‘Help me, help me.’”

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Prosecutor Claire Pickthall put it to Tovey that the past “has caught up with you”.

The defendant replied that he did not sexually assault any of the complainants.

One of the alleged victims told the jury how Tovey had done “bad stuff” to her and had “touched her up”.

Miss Lewis put it to her that she had not been sexually assaulted by her client, but the complainant maintained that she had.

The trial judge is Judge Patrick Curran QC.

Proceeding.