A man who denies indecently assaulting two young girls told a jury how he believed in the death penalty for paedophiles.

Ken Hedley, 61, said: "I have always wanted to be the one to pull the lever and hang them down!"

The grandfather added: "I have never harmed a child physically, sexually or mentally. I never have and I never will."

Hedley denies all five charges of indecent assault on the two young girls, now aged seven and 11.

Hedley drove to Southend police after the mother's boyfriend and two other men called at his home last March and told him to keep away from the girls.

Once there though, he claims he decided not to go in and report the boyfriend's visit for fear of the grief it would cause the mother and the girls.

The alleged offences are said to have been carried out when the sisters stayed at his house or when he was reading to them in the dining room of their own home. Hedley became good friends with the mother following her divorce.

Hedley, said: "My life has been destroyed because of this. My friends, my sons and daughters, my home, has all gone.

"I have got nothing left now and I have done nothing wrong."

The trial, at Basildon Crown Court, continues.

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