How he lured boys in West End

With his Rolls-Royce, his millions, his fame as a pop singer, composer and TV presenter, it was all too easy for Jonathan King to offer a slice of his dream world to star-struck young teenagers.

He promised them he could help them become famous, too.

But behind the veneer King set out to seduce the victims he picked up in the West End at his £850,000 home in Bayswater, an Old Bailey court heard.

Every one of King's victims - from different walks of life and different parts of the country - came to court to tell a similar tale of being seduced by the star.

The first one described how in 1983, at the age of 14, he had come to London on a family trip from Luton. He was approached in Leicester Square by King who drove him around in his Rolls-Royce, gave him a handful of records and photographs and drove him home to meet his parents.

Now aged 33 and a builder, the witness told the court: "Mr King was very good at making you feel easy with yourself. He talked about all the TV and radio things he was involved with and that he was always looking for children to do this and that. He was good at pumping you up. I thought I might become famous when I grew up."

One of the most dramatic moments of the two-week trial came when Ronald Thwaites, QC, King's barrister, accused the builder of trying to "cash in" on his story. The witness pointed at King, who had swapped his trademark baseball cap and T-shirt for a blue business suit, and said: "I was sexually abused by that man - sitting over there - Mr King."

His voice trembling, he went on: "I had my mind rearranged, it twists and bends you a little bit. It is something I can't forget. He should pay for it."

He said he had come to court after his girlfriend persuaded him that his appearance could help others who suffered similar ordeals.

The next victim, from a small Cambridgeshire town, was 14 when he met King in Soho in 1983.

He said: "I wandered off first to Hamleys and Harrods, agreeing to see my mother again in Trafalgar Square. I had never been in London on my own and I wanted to find Carnaby Street and Soho. I met King in Berwick Street market when I was pretending to look at records while looking at the peep shows. He approached me and said 'do you recognise me?' I thought he was a friend of my dad's but he said 'no, I'm off the TV' and mentioned his name, saying he was on music shows like Top Of The Pops. I was gobsmacked and quite shocked, then he asked me if I had been in any of the peep shows and I said 'no, I can't get in because I'm too young'."

King fondled him in the peep show and invited him back to his home, offering to bring "one of his girlfriends around" for sex. "He pointed to his car, a big brown Rolls-Royce, and I thought 'he really is what he says he is'. I said 'coo, yeah'. I was a virgin and I was all for it."

Outside his house King checked up and down the road before letting the boy in, gave him a ginger beer and invited him into the bedroom. "I thought I was going to have sex with one of his girlfriends," said the witness.

King put a porn video on and the boy noticed he had a video camera on a tripod next to the bed. King performed serious sexual assaults on the boy. "I was really freaked out, I didn't want it at all. It lasted seven minutes or something."

King gave his victim a copy of his book and a record, drove him back to Trafalgar Square and gave him £40. The witness said: "I kept going back to him because I thought he was my friend. I did actually enjoy going down to see him, I liked the aura about it but I didn't like him buggering me, but apart from that I did. He promised me he would get a woman around and I really wanted to lose my virginity but she never materialised."

The next victim was 13 when he recognised King outside a London record shop while on a family trip from Shropshire in 1984.

He approached King and asked for an autograph. King invited the boy home and, after asking him about his interests, showed him pornography and abused him.

In 1986, King met a 15-year-old who had recently arrived from South Africa. King stopped his Rolls-Royce in the Bayswater Road and introduced himself to the boy, inviting him to visit the following day when abuse took place.

The final assault took place in 1987 on a 13-year-old from Gillingham, who was introduced to King through his elder brother. He visited King on a number of occasions and there was the familiar talk about music and hobbies - but on the final visit King interfered with him.

All the victims had to come to court to relive their ordeals because King had denied the charges. Once in the witness box they were accused by Mr Thwaites of being "unscrupulous people" who had tried to blackmail his client with "false allegations". For his part, King, now 56, denied he had sexually abused any of them and said he was merely using them to conduct " market research" for his TV programmes.

He said it was an integral part of his job to keep in touch with trends among teenagers and he spent a lot of time questioning them about their interests.

He told the jury that after years of success as a singer and record producer he now ran a magazine for the music industry which highlightedup and coming bands, and worked as a consultant and journalist. Over the years he had invited "thousands" of teenagers to his home to conduct nothing more sinister than market research.

King said he could barely remember any of those who accused him and there was one he had no recollection of at all.

Asked by his barrister: "Did you act indecently towards any of the persons named on the indictment?" King replied: "Absolutely not."

He told the court how he had been in the public eye since the release of his first record, and was treated as a celebrity. He said he would summarise his life with the word "happy" and his life's work and interests were just "music".

But when he said he deeply resented the charges against him, prosecutor David Jeremy told him: "Well, you will have to steel yourself for more resentment I'm afraid, Mr King, because I suggest to you you didn't only play with the dreams of these young men but you manipulated them in a very methodical way and I suggest the only thing you resent is you have been caught."

King replied: "No, I resent the thought I was manipulating people. I was researching them and giving them the pleasure of hearing from somebody who was making these TV shows."

Mr Jeremy went on: "The method I suggest you employed was you picked these young men off the street, would bamboozle them with fame and importance, introduce them to the subject of sex, create an atmosphere of normality by showing them photographs of naked women.

"You would show them more photos and sex videos and when they were aroused you would start to sexually touch them. Was that the method, Mr King?"

King answered: "No, it wasn't." Accusing King of manipulating the media, Mr Jeremy said: "You've made yourself into a pop singer that can't sing."

"You may make these comments if you like," replied King.

"A writer who can't write," said Mr Jeremy.

"I like to think I'm a very good writer," said King.

"And your real gift is that you are able to exploit the media to preserve the spotlight on you," said Mr Jeremy.

King replied: "I think my real gift has been knowing what the public want."

Mr Jeremy concluded: "Mr King, I'm afraid I must suggest to you that if anyone in this case has a right to feel resentful or disgusted, it's not you."