A golfer accused of molesting a 12-year-old boy wanted to turn the youngster into a top sportsman, a court heard.

Michael Fernandez, 52, told the Old Bailey his "kindness and generosity" were not given in return for "favours".

The prosecution claims Fernandez, of Denhams Farm, Billingshurst, used his position to sexually abuse the youngster, now aged 30.

He said: "That is absolutely wrong. I never saw him as anything sexual".

"I treated him as a son and there was no secret about this special relationship. But it was never, ever, anything sexual.

"After knowing him all these years it is very, very sad for me that it has come to this.

He added: "I was beginning to think he had potential of being a top golfer, he could be turned into being a top golfer and I had an eye on doing that.

"I wasn't bothered about his age. The only thing I was interested in was his handicap.

"He was a very mature person. I treated him as an adult".

Fernandez, a keen golfer, took the boy to famous courses including Gleneagles, Carnoustie and St Andrews in Scotland.

He said he was a "father figure" but a "fierce rival on the golf course".

Fernandez had bought gifts for the boy including a television, a radio-controlled car and a suit when the boy got his first job in a bank.

He added: "Some of the gifts were expensive but I could afford it. I bought them for him because he was like a son to me and I never bought them without his parents' knowledge".

Fernandez denies four counts of indecent assault on a male and four charges of serious sexual assault between March, 1983, and March, 1988.

The trial continues.