Pupil thought she was 'groomed' by welfare officer

A Lagan College pupil has told Belfast Crown Court she thought a health and welfare officer was grooming her and would rape her.

The pupil told the court 43-year-old Neil Beckett from Kilmore near Crossgar brought her into his office with the door and blinds closed.

She said he held on to her hands “very tightly” and “would not let” her go.

The pupil said: "I genuinely thought he was going to rape me. I was really worried."

The pupil said Mr Beckett then told her to lay on a medical bed.

She said: “He told me to lay on the bed and asked me did I want to go to sleep? I said no.

"He put his hands on my thighs and almost pushed my skirt up. He put his hands on the top of my thighs. He wouldn’t let me go”.

She told the court she felt "paralysed".

"You could see my pants my skirt was up so high. I didn’t know what he was about to do," she said.

"He was making all these noises. He sounded like he was enjoying himself, sexually. It felt wrong. I felt trapped. I felt like he was going to do something bad to me”.

Neil Beckett, 43, is accused of 29 sex offences against teenage girls.

He denies all the charges against him.

Mr Beckett was working at Lagan College in south Belfast at the time of some of the alleged offences

The charges span a decade—between 2013 and 2023—and involve 11 alleged victims, nine of whom were pupils at Lagan College.

Two other victims were teenage Army cadets at a time when, prior to taking up his role at the school, Mr Beckett was an Army cadet leader.

Among the charges against him is an allegation of rape by one of the Army cadet complainants.

In court today, a pupil at Lagan College said: “I did everything to try and distract him. I didn’t want him touching me anymore."

A barrister representing Mr Beckett put it to the pupil “Mr Beckett denies anything happened”.

The pupil said: “He can believe that. I know what happened. And it did happen."

The pupil broke down and added: “Looking back on things now, he was grooming me."

She said: “I liked him. I liked spending time with him and talking to him. It’s sexual assault and it’s what happened to me.”

The trial continues.