Self-styled Reverend Howard Curtis is charged with a number of sex offences over spankings he handed out at the church he 'ran like a cult'

A evangelical pastor administered 'spiritual discipline' by spanking female members of his congregation's bare bottoms with his hand, a court has heard.

Self-styled Reverend Howard Curtis, 73, is accused of dishing out the spankings at his Coulsdon Christian Fellowship for his own 'sexual satisfaction.

Prosecutor Toby Fitzgerald told Croydon Crown Court that father-of-three Curtis, of Wallington, south London, ran the church as a cult.

He ordered one woman to strip naked before putting her over his knee and slapping her until she collapsed on the floor.

Mr Fitzgerald said: 'She trusted him completely as a man of God.

'She pulled down her trousers and underwear and lay across his lap. He hit her hard about twelve times until she ended up on the floor.

'She'd become, in effect, a rag doll in the defendant's hands.'

Curtis also took naked pictures of her on his mobile phone and fondled the woman between her legs, the jury were told.

When arrested he did not deny the spankings but insisted they were consensual, the court heard.

The court heard that another woman was told it was 'God's will' she be punished and agreed to his form of discipline.

Mr Fitzgerald said: 'She leaned over a bannister in a hallway and took her trousers and knickers down so he could spank her bare bottom.

'She was told it was important not to tell him when to stop, he would decide when it was time to stop and he continued to beat her forcefully.

'There were twenty to thirty strikes with his bare hand and she felt it was going on forever and was crying. She was black and blue and told all these actions were in God's name.'

Curtis has pleaded not guilty to two sample counts of sexually assaulting the first victim between January 2009 and July 2013.

He also denies two counts of sexual assault against the second woman woman between January 2007 and December 2009.

He also denies one count of child cruelty between March 2007 and February 2008 in relation to the second woman's nine year-old daughter.

Curtis, who denies the charges, ran the Coulsdon Christian Fellowship from this building in south London

She was put over his knee and beaten 'very hard' until she started crying, the court was told.

He also denies two counts of child cruelty in relation to a young boy, aged approximately eight years-old who is said to have spanked up to five times.

Curtis has also pleaded not guilty to causing actual bodily harm to a thirteen year-old girl who he allegedly spanked a dozen times with a slipper for disobedience between January 1969 and January 1971.

Curtis was ordained in 1988 under the umbrella of the Elim Pentecostal church.

'He presented himself as an inspirational man of God,' said Mr Fitzgerald. 'The Crown say the church was run for this defendant and he cloaked himself in the trappings of a religious leader.

'In reality he was nothing of the sort. He deceived his congregation, including children.

'He said he was going to cast out evil spirits from people and that discipline had to be administered by striking bare flesh with the bare hand.'

The trial, which is expected to last four weeks, continues.