Couple deny schoolchildren strip poker games on canal boat

The couple, Elisa Clifton and Robert Orr, are on trial accused of inciting a 13-year-old girl and a boy of 14 into sexual activity when the boat was moored at Rugeley.

Clifton told the jury at Stafford Crown Court that although clothes were taken off during the card game, she made sure everyone remained covered up.

She said no-one ended up naked and no-one saw her bare torso, adding that she covered herself with a quilt and gave the girl a cardigan to wrap around herself.

Clifton refuted the allegation there was a sexual motive for the game, saying: "The boy saw the tin - a poker set - on the side. He said 'can we have a game of 21'. Then the boy suggested strip poker, I wasn't really keen on it, but the boy seemed keen. I said 'we can play, but not strip poker'."

Mr Andrew Keogh, defending, asked her: "Looking back on it, was it a bright idea to get involved?"

"I should have said 'no' - we didn't play for very long, like five minutes," Clifton replied.

Orr, aged 41, of Sidney Road, Draycott, Derby, and Clifton, aged 25, from Manchester, formerly of the same address, both deny two charges of inciting a child to engage in strip poker and two of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. Orr also denies sexual activity with the 13-year-old girl.

The prosecution allege the couple enticed youngsters on to their boat and gave them cigarettes and alcohol. During the strip poker game, it is said they engaged in sexual acts under a blanket and then had sex behind a curtain while the two youngsters were still on the boat. In a separate incident, Orr allegedly groped the girl sexually.

However, Clifton said they had not given any of their home-brewed liquor or cigarettes to the youngsters, adding that two crates of booze had been brought to the canalside by some of the local youths themselves. She said she and Orr were no longer in a relationship.

Orr, a former pet shop owner, told the jury he had grabbed the girl when she was play-fighting with another boy on the boat but there was nothing sexual about it.

Asked about the card game, he said it was a 'very stupid' thing to do.

"At the time it was a joke and a laugh, now I realise I should have kicked them off the boat," he said.

He said no-one was actually naked, adding: "I was down to my boxer shorts, but I was covered in a towel. Elisa was down to her underwear. She was covered in a towel, then a quilt. The boy was down to his boxers, the girl was down to her underwear, but she had a cardigan on that Elisa had given her."

Orr also denied that there had been any sexual activity with Clifton in front of the two children, saying they had gone into the bedroom but only had a kiss and a cuddle there.

The trial continues.