Social worker 'raped' girls in care Beechwood children's home Published duration 7 March 2016

image caption Andris Logins is accused of raping two girls at a care home in Nottinghamshire

A former social care worker used his position at a "brutal" children's care home to sexually abuse children, a court has heard.

Andris Logins, 57, of Stiles Road in Arnold, was charged as part of inquiries into historical child abuse at children's homes in Nottinghamshire.

He was aged 22 to 27 when he is alleged to have carried out the abuse at Beechwood Community Home in the 1980s.

Mr Logins, on trial at Nottingham Crown Court, denies all 15 charges.

He has been charged with sexual offences in relation to two girls and one boy - including raping the two girls.

He has also been charged with an act of child cruelty in relation to a second boy.

The alleged victims were too afraid to complain because the home, in Mapperley, was so "brutal", the court heard.

The charges in full:

Two counts of rape on a girl under 14 between January and October 1984

Two counts of rape of a girl under 16 between January and October 1984

Four indecent assaults of a boy aged under 16 between October 1980 and May 1981

Three indecent assaults on a girl under 16 between January and October 1984

Three indecent assaults of a girl under 14 between January and October 1984

One act of child cruelty between January and September 1984

Opening the case, prosecutor Mary Prior said Mr Logins would develop a caring rapport with his alleged victims before abusing them.

In one case, she said Mr Logins abused a boy - then aged under 16 - about 10 times, with the defendant performing sex acts on the child and making the child perform sex acts on him.

The complainant told police he initially thought Mr Logins was trying to protect him, but was actually trying to "get his horrible greasy hands on me".

Mrs Prior told the court of another case where a 14-year-old girl had become upset at school and was sent back to Beechwood.

The court heard Mr Logins told her to have a lie down and he then started to rub her shoulders and then took her hand and placed it on his penis.

On another occasion, Mr Logins described the girl as his "special woman" and raped her, the court heard.

The police became involved when the other woman, who said she was 15 when she raped by Logins, went to police in July 2013.

Mr Logins is also said to have dragged a 14-year-old boy into his office, punched him until he "cowed on the floor", forced him to undress and then stared at his penis. He was charged with child cruelty in relation to this.

When questioned by police, Mr Logins said the four people "had got the wrong man" and suggested the descriptions given by the complainants could have fitted other men who worked at the home.

The trial continues.