Accused pervert claims he only read stories to ‘victims’

A pensioner accused of sexually abusing two young girls at the children’s home where his wife worked told a court they only sat on his lap while he read them stories. Michael Coughtrey, 73, allegedly touched the youngsters inappropriately while visiting the Woolmer Drive in Hemel Hempstead, Herts during the 1970s. One victim told how Coughtrey would kiss her with his tongue and remembered him “huffing and puffing” as he molested her when she was just six or seven years…