Lady Lavinia Nourse, 77, on trial charged with historical sexual abuse of boy under 12
Lady Lavinia Nourse, 77, the widow of former Lord Justice of Appeal Sir Martin Nourse, ‘sexually abused a boy under the age of 12 in the 1980s’, as court hears he ‘buried the memories until years later when he was married with children’
- Lady Lavinia Nourse, from Suffolk, is charged with historical sexual abuse of boy
- She was married to Sir Martin Nourse, High Court judge who died aged 85, 2017
- Lady Nourse is on trial at Peterborough’s Nightingale court at city’s cathedral
- The 77-year-old denies 17 counts of sexually abusing a boy under the age of 12
The widow of a High Court judge has gone on trial charged with the historical sexual abuse of a young boy in the 1980s.
Lady Lavinia Nourse, from Newmarket in Suffolk, was married to Sir Martin Nourse, who died in 2017 aged 85.
The 77-year-old has gone on trial at Peterborough’s Nightingale court, in the Knight’s Chamber at the city’s cathedral, where she denies 17 counts of sexually abusing a boy under the age of 12.
The charges, which all relate to the same male complainant, are five counts of indecently assaulting a boy and 12 counts of indecency with a child.
Lavinia Nourse, 77, arrives at Knights Chamber, Peterborough Cathedral Visitor And Learning Centre, Peterborough, The charges relate to the period 1981 to 1990
Lady Lavinia Nourse, of Newmarket in Suffolk, was married to Sir Martin Nourse (pictured), who died in 2017 aged 85
Lady Lavinia Nourse, pictured circa Spring 1997. Lady Lavinia and Sir Martin Nourse married in 1972
Jennifer Knight QC, prosecuting, said the boy had ‘never told anyone’ about what Lady Lavinia did to him.
‘He tried to bury away the memories and not to think about them.’
She said that, years later, after the complainant got married and had children, he ‘became increasingly troubled by his recollection’.
Ms Knight said the complainant told his wife what had happened to him and later reported his allegations to police, with Lady Lavinia first interviewed by officers in 2019.
The defendant claims that the alleged incidents of abuse did not happen, Ms Knight said.
Lavinia Nourse arrives at Knights Chamber where she is charged with 17 counts of sexually abusing a boy under the age of 12
The defendant claims that the alleged incidents of abuse did not happen, Jennifer Knight QC, prosecuting, said
Lady Lavinia and Sir Martin Nourse married in 1972 and had two children together.
The couple moved to the 18th century Dullingham House in Newmarket, Suffolk, in 1994.
The pair were described by The Telegraph as ‘gregarious’ and often threw soirées at their country estate with friends.
Sir Martin was born in Cambridge in 1932. His father was a GP and his maternal grandfather was Sir Charles Henry Sargant, a High Court judge in Chancery and a Lord Justice of Appeal.
Inspired by his mother’s father, he went on to attend Winchester College before going on to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge after two years’ national service.
In a distinguished career spanning decades, he specialised in the Commercial Court and Chancery Division at the Court of Appeal, and retired in 2006 but continued to sit in the court part-time.
One of his most notable cases took place in 1979, when he gave the Inland Revenue permission to sue the estate of the late Selfridges billionaire Sir Charles Clore.
The trial, which is set to last two weeks, continues.
