A FORMER Andover town councillor 'groomed and sexually abused a child' over a number of years, a court has heard.

Adam Buckenham, 46, has gone on trial today (March 21) at Winchester Crown Court where he denies 14 charges, including rape and sexual assault of a child. He has pleaded guilty to six other charges.

Buckenham, who now lives on the Isle of Wight, is alleged to have incited the child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to engage in sexual activity.

In 2019 was elected during a by-election to Andover Town Council for the Downlands Ward as an independent.

Opening the prosecution case, Rob Welling told the jury that Buckenham “started small to begin with, first of all it was a peck on the lips then it was kissing with open mouth…telling her that if she loved him that was the way they should kiss”.

“[The victim] had very little insight as to what was happening and very quickly she felt out of control, she was scared to say no to him because he would get moody if he didn’t get his own way,” Mr Welling continued.

The prosecutor said that the issue of consent will need to be considered by the jury, adding: “We say that [the victim] was being groomed by the defendant”.

“He allowed himself to believe that was what [the victim] wanted,” Mr Welling said. “Her resistance was met with moods on his part that frightened her.”

Mr Welling said that in a “calculated way he (Buckenham) was able to break down her resistance overtime”.

Jurors heard that Buckenham, of York Road in Ventnor, made four recordings of the abuse.

Today jurors watched a video interview the woman carried out with police in which she said that Buckenham “always said I was his girlfriend and that he loved me, and he treated it as if it was a relationship”.

She continued: “[He would say] ‘I want to spend time with my girlfriend’. I think it was just the way he spoke, he talked about us as a couple."

The woman said that he would “push and push until I gave in, I was too tired to carry on shooing him away”.

The trial continues.