US teacher on trial:

A US English teacher went on trial in Madrid on Tuesday accused of sexually abusing students at a top private school in the Spanish capital.

The man, identified only as Michael W.R., was charged with 11 counts of continued sexual abuse of minors.

Public prosectors have asked that he be sentenced to 66 years in jail.

They accuse him of “taking advantage of his status as a teacher” at the Colegio Base, a private school in La Moraleja, an upscale neighbourhood in northern Madrid, “to satisfy his sexual desires, inside the classroom and during school hours”.

“He would touch the genital areas of his students, acts which he disguised as interactive games carried out between him and the minors who sat in his lap,” prosecutors wrote in their accusation.

The man would touch his students “sometimes above their clothes other times below,” prosecutors added.

The closed-door trial is expected to run until Friday. (AFP)