A FOOTBALL coach in Chipping Norton accused of asking young boys for indecent photos admitted he was ‘too pally’ with the boys.

Luke Newman, 29, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with two counts of being an offender over 18 inciting or causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity in relation to two different boys.

The coach, who worked for Chipping Norton Swifts FC, allegedly messaged two youngsters asking for pictures of them in their boxers.

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In exchange, he reportedly promised to send them back a naked picture of his girlfriend.

Newman, of Evans Way, Chipping Norton, has denied the offences.

Giving evidence on Wednesday (May 15), the coach admitted to being ‘too pally’ with the boys but denied asking for indecent photographs or speaking to them about sexual topics.

When asked if he spoke to the alleged victims about ‘sex’ or ‘penis sizes’, Newman said no.

The Crown Prosecution Service barrister also asked Newman about a text he had sent to one of the boys asking if he wanted to go for a ride in the defendant’s new car with a ‘kissing face’ emoji.

Newman said the emoji was an accident because it had shown up in his most recently used emojis and he had wrongly clicked on it.

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When asked why he had invited the boy in the car, Newman said “It was just to show him the new one as it was an ongoing joke that my old [car] was bad.”

Newman was also questioned about sending the boy an emoji of eyes which the boy described as a ‘flirty emoji’.

However, the defendant said: “It’s just a looking emoji.”

Newman’s partner, Hannah Berry, also gave evidence as part of the defence case.

She said she has been dating Neman since 2015 and that the allegations have been ‘difficult’.

She said: “We’ve had to put a lot of things on hold that we would have liked to have done by now.

"We were talking about buying a house and moving in together so it’s been hard for us a couple.”

Miss Berry said she had been aware of the investigation from the start when one of the boys messaged Newman asking why he had allegedly made him send the photo.

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“When [the boy] messaged out of the blue it was quite a shock,” she said.

“He didn’t understand it and show it to me at the time.

“I was there when he was arrested.”

The trial continues with Judge Ian Pringle expected to sum up the case on Monday (May 20).