A TEENAGE has told how he put up with being sexually abused by wealthy Stephen Read because the businessman took him shooting - a sport he loved.

The boy told Gloucester Crown Court yesterday, Thursday, that his parents could not have afforded to pay for him to do the expensive hobby so he carried on being taken shooting by Read and tried to put the abuse out of his mind.

"I wouldn't have done any shooting otherwise and I loved it," he said.

"I was treated by Steve, had money spent on me. I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do it (shooting) otherwise.

"That's why I carried on. That other side of Steve Read was something | tried to forget about, to put to one side, and concentrate on the shooting. That's what I had to deal with."

The boy also said that the way Read indulged him made him feel 'special.'

"I learnt to cope with the other side of Steve Read," he said.

Cross-examined, the boy agreed that when he was first interviewed by police investigating alleged child abuse by Read he told them he had not been touched.

"I was fifteen then and I just didn't want to talk about it," said the boy, now 17. "I was embarassed and shocked."

The boy is one of four who were allegedly sexually abused by Read, aged 58, of Bussage, former managing director of Enviro Technology Services.

He is on trial facing 15 charges of molesting four boys over a 15 year period.

The jury has been told investigations began when a mum giving a lift to her son and three other boys heard one of them describing Read as a 'paedo.'

Two of the charges against Read involve the 17 year old shooting enthusiast - one of causing or inciting him to engage in sexual activity by having a photograph taken of him wearing a condom. The other alleges that Read incited the boy to sexual activity by showing him porn.

The trial continues.