A former disc jockey at Harrogate Hospital Radio Station has been found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy in the 1990s.

Adrian Phipps, 65, was accused of eight counts of indecently assaulting the under-age boy and was found guilty of two of those charges at York Crown Court today (July 11).

The jury found him not guilty of the six other allegations following a week-long trial.

The two incidents of which he was found guilty occurred at a property in Harrogate in the mid-1990s.

Prosecutor Ian Howard said that Phipps was in his mid-30s and a volunteer DJ at Harrogate District Hospital at the time of the offences, which were not connected to the infirmary nor his role at the hospital.

He said that Phipps would use his “joviality” to ingratiate himself with the boy whom he sexually assaulted.

Phipps, of Station View in Harrogate, was acquitted of the majority of the charges including allegations that he sexually abused the boy in secluded woods next to playing fields in Harrogate.

It wasn’t until 2021 that the victim, now an adult and struggling with mental health issues, made “partial” disclosures to those close to him about what had happened to him as a child.

Phipps was arrested and brought in for questioning in February 2022. He made vehement denials about the allegations, claiming that his accuser had “made it up”.

Defence barrister David Ward said that Phipps denied that any sexual activity had occurred between him and the boy.

Phipps admitted possessing indecent images of another child before the start of the trial. 

Judge Simon Hickey adjourned sentence to August 12.