A Methodist minister has denied indecently assaulting four boys after he attempted to hypnotise them.

Teeside Crown Court heard that John Price told his victims he was using hypnosis to help them relax.

Price is accused of abusing the boys in a series of assaults in the 1970s and 80s.

Price, 82, of Bedale, North Yorkshire, denies the 14 counts of indecent assault on boys aged between 11 and 17, the BBC reports.

The alleged indecent assaults on two boys took place while he was minister at York Methodist Church and two while he was at Pocklington, East Yorkshire.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said there strong similarities between the accounts told by all the survivors.

'The defendant attempted, so he said, to hypnotise them, he said to help them relax, and then he proceeded to abuse them sexually.'

Price would sometimes use a blanket or cloak, telling a boy to hold a 50p piece until he had to let it go, believing then that his victim was in a trance, the court heard.

One alleged assault took place at the minister's home while his wife and daughter were out.

One of the victims said he felt felt shocked, frozen, appalled and at a loss as to what to do, the court heard, according to the BBC. A fourth boy was abused after being made to lie naked on a bed.

The trial continues.