PHILIP Day posted videos to Facebook in a bid to drum up support against UCAN after a police investigation into sexual abuse claims was closed, a jury has heard.

Day, 55, is on trial at Chester Crown Court for two counts of stalking members of school staff as well as setting fire to the building in February 2018. He also faces charges of burglary and arson at a house in Essex – he denies all charges.

The court heard how police had visited the house of an alleged victim, who declined to make an official complaint but had told her family she thought she may have been raped during a school trip.

In March 2016, a number of years after the alleged incident, the student – by then an adult – was visited by officers Janet Bickle and Gemma Bradbury at her home address to speak about the legal process and, if possible, record a statement.

From the witness box, DC Bickle said the informal interview resulted in a ‘fragmented’ and ‘stilted’ account, which led her to decide that the alleged victim was not in a fit mental state to provide a statement at that time.

She said: “The entire conversation was difficult. She would engage and disengage.

“She spoke very quietly, and at times I had to ask her to repeat herself even though I was sat next to her."

A covert recording of the meeting was obtained by Day, and the jury was told it included vague references to ‘flashbacks’, people ‘lying above her’, ‘red eyes’, and the ‘rhythm’ of a ‘male body part’.

Day then made a series of complaints against DS Bickle, two of which were upheld – the fact that it wasn’t recorded as a rape crime, and that no referral was made to the safeguarding officer.

DC Bickle said: “I did not at that time believe it was a credible allegation of rape. I have subsequently listened to the recording on two occasions, and by the second review I did hear her say [the word rape].”

She added that while the decision not to record the crime did not impact in any way the subsequent investigation, Cheshire Police was ‘perhaps not as robust’ in recording crime prior to an inspection in 2016.

Under new guidance, she said, the incident would have resulted in a crime being recorded.

The jury was then shown a series of widely watched and shared videos published by Day on his public Facebook profile, which referred to alleged suspects, staff at UCAN, and officers at Cheshire Police.

The first came after Day was acquitted of threatening to kill the teacher in question, and – over a period of months – videos were filmed at UCAN, Leftwich High School, and an anti-child abuse conference.

He said some teachers saw Northwich schools as a ‘playground for paedophiles’, and that the UCAN teacher he is accused of stalking had ‘connections’ within the police and Freemasons to keep him from being prosecuted.

In one of the videos played to the jury, Day said: "I’ll find a way to get to the truth and when I do get to the truth you’re not going to be able to stop me publishing it.

"I’ll bring you down, the lot of you."

Day is also accused of stalking headteacher Cath Green. He said in a video, recorded on the first day of the 2017/18 academic year, that he would wait outside school for her every day until the teacher was suspended.

Day denies all charges. The trial continues, and is expected to last up to four weeks.