A Roman Catholic priest accused of sex crimes against six girls and boys was "sex mad", a jury heard today.

Father Francis McDermott, now 75, had a locked cabinet by his bed at his High Wycombe home that contained pornographic magazines, one of his alleged victims claimed at his trial at Aylesbury Crown Court this week.

The man, who is now in his late 50s, said his family were friends with Francis McDermott when he was training to be a priest in North London in the early 1970s.

He said: "Both my parents were Roman Catholic. My mum was of Irish descent and they both thought a lot of Frank. He was born in Ireland.

"My mother was very honoured that she had a future priest as a close friend of family.

"I adored him. He was my best friend. I think I loved him more than I loved my parents. He had a lot of time for me. He took me to a lot of places."

The man, who gave evidence behind a screen at the court, said: "He stayed over (at the family home in London) on a regular basis - twice a week.

"He stayed over in my bed. My parents would allow this and I thought it ok. It would be top and tail. One at top and one at bottom of the bed."

But he told the jury of five women and seven men that Frank sexually abused him on a regular basis. "I was still in primary school. He asked me to touch his penis and said my mother asked him to tell me factors of life," he said.

He said the touching led to sex acts and kissing.

At one stage he told a sister what was happening. After she told their mother, Frank spoke to him and said: "You shouldn't be telling your mother - it is a personal thing."

The man, who went on to live in Northampton, said: "I felt special at the time. I feel ashamed now. He was very charismatic. I thought a lot of him.

"I don't remember feeling guilt. I remember it was a great secret to be kept with a friend."

After Francis McDermott became ordained, he said he visited him in his parish in Norwich. He said the priest boasted about having sex with a woman parishioner and alleged the priest also told him he was doing sexual things with a girl he [the man] was friendly with.

The man said: "He would often boast about how he would go upstairs and touch her and bragged about how he did things with her. I never saw it happen. I saw him tickle her and hug her.

"At the time I wanted it to be me. I was 12 or 13 - I wanted to be the first guy to have a sexual relationship with her. I felt jealous of her.

"He (Francis McDermott) had a very high sex drive - he was sex mad. He was always talking about it."

The man, who was still living in London, said the priest moved to High Wycombe in 1974 and he would then visit there.

He went on: "I saw him even more. I was happy he was close to London. Frank said the best thing to do was to say he was my uncle.

"Beside his bed he had a locked metal cabinet and had a lot of pornographic magazines. I was 13 or 14. I looked at the magazines."

He said sexual activity continue on a regular basis. At the time, he said Francis McDermott made him jealous when he talked about a "fit" and "randy" girl.

It was alleged Father Frank was also having sexual activity with a brother and sister. On one occasion he said the priest got him and the boy to perform a sex act with him. On another occasion he said the same thing happened with the sister, without her brother present.

He said the sexual activity tapered off when he was about 17.

The man said he stayed in touch with the priest, who had moved to Aylesbury. He said he would visit him there with his wife.

Suddenly, around 2004, when the man was living in Northampton, he said he received a call from the priest.

He said: "I got a phone call. He said 'I have got to come and see you.' He sounded in a panic. I knew what it was going to be about. I started feeling bad about the abuse. There was a lot in the papers like the Sun and the Mirror about priests abusing children."

He said he drove to Argos and bought a dictaphone which he used to record the conversation in which Frank asked him to make a statement to support him after a complaint had been made against him by a woman.

The retired priest, of Atlantic Way, Westwood Ho, Bideford, Devon, denies 18 indecent assaults, four indecent assaults on a male, two charges of indecency with a child, one of buggery and one of rape, allegedly carried out between 1971 and 1979.

The trial is expected to last for four weeks.