Computer expert abused boys, court told

??An IT expert from the Black Country, who has appeared on TV and radio to give technical advice, sexually abused two young brothers after fixing a computer, a court heard.

Award-winning businessman Stuart Rudd showed the pair, who were under 13, adult pornographic images and encouraged them to perform sex acts, it is alleged.

The jury was told that Rudd, managing director of Expert IT consultants on Bilston High Street and who has appeared on BBC Midlands Today and local radio to give computer advice, has a 1997 conviction for a sex offence involving a girl under the age of 16.

The 35-year-old now denies five charges of sexual abuse.

Mr Mark Heywood, prosecuting, said: "He took an opportunity that he created for himself to put them in a position where they could see, playing on a TV screen, an adult porn film.

"It was, you may think, an act of grooming so perhaps he could gauge the reaction.

"The boys knew what took place was wrong, but they didn't feel they could stand up to him."

Mr Heywood said the allegations dated back several years, but only came to light relatively recently. He said the boys had told their mother of the alleged abuse, but "did not want it discussed with strangers".

But he said the family's feelings were allowed to "fester" and eventually police were called.

Mr Heywood said Rudd, of Summerhill Road, Coseley, would claim that there was "not a word of truth" in the allegations.

But Mr Heywood said: "It's often said that allegations like this are so very easy to make and very difficult to refute. These are not easy things to say for a young boy, to allege that they have been abused by an older man.

"It's not the kind of thing that's going to get you any kind of cool notoriety. It's going to shame you at the very least."

Rudd has also been managing director of Swan Bank House business centre in Bilston, which provides accommodation and facilities for firms.

In 2003, the Lichfield Street company won the High Growth Business Start-up Award at the Best of the Black Country Awards.

The trial continues.