Jonathan King ‘used fame to groom young boys for sex’

DISGRACED pop mogul Jonathan King used his fame and power to groom 11 star-struck young boys for sex, a court heard yesterday.

The 73-year-old producer and former DJ – known for discovering Genesis and hits including Hooked on a Feeling – prowled the streets in his Rolls Royce and Daimler trying to pick up boys as young as 13, it is alleged.

Convicted sex offender King, pictured, promised to introduce impressionable youngsters to stars, took them to BBC studios and pretended that former glamour model Samantha Fox was his girlfriend, Southwark Crown Court heard.

He is accused of preying on ‘immature’ boys aged 13 to 16 in the 1970s and 80s, showering them with gifts and promising them sex with young girls as part of a ‘game of manipulation and power’ to lure victims back to his West London home, where they were sexually abused.

The claims come after King – real name Kenneth George King – was convicted in 2001 of sexual offences against five teenage boys in the 1980s. Prosecutor Rosina Cottage QC said: ‘The defendant used his position in the music industry and his fame to lure boys into his Daimler or Rolls-Royce, where he would flatter them and pretend that they could help him with research or promotion.

‘He would then drive them to his home where he would give them alcohol and promise them sex with teenage girls and show them pornography.

‘When they were in his power and in no position to repel his advances he would assault them. It appears that it was a game of manipulation and power over boys aged about 13 to 16.

King has been charged with 24 serious sexual assault charges against boys aged between 13 and 15, alleged to have taken place between 1970 and 1988. He denies all the charges. The case continues.