A man who has accused a former Suffolk teacher and band leader of sexually abusing him nearly 40 years ago has denied making up the allegations because he saw a “financial opportunity that was too good to miss.”

The alleged victim denied “jumping on the compensation bandwagon” after learning Derek Cable, who was a music teacher at Stowmarket Middle School and leader of Stowmarket Schools’ Band, had been convicted of sexually abusing five other boys.

Giving evidence on the second day of 73-year-old Cable’s trial at Ipswich Crown Court the witness admitted he had received a £17,000 pay out from Suffolk County Council but denied he had come to court to give evidence because people might question his right to the money if he didn’t.

He told the court he had a miserable childhood and had been bullied at school and felt like an outsider in his own home.

Cable, formerly of Edgecombe Road, Stowmarket, and now living in Hastings, has denied three offences of indecently assaulting a boy under 13 between 1975-1976.

It has been alleged that Cable indecently assaulted the boy in “strikingly similar” circumstances to five other schoolboys he was convicted of sexually assaulting in 2003.

The court has heard the alleged victim of the latest charges was a musician who had private tuition at Stowmarket Middle School in the 1970s where Derek Cable, who was then in his thirties, was employed as a music teacher

The boy, who was aged about 11, was allegedly touched on his groin area by Cable and forced to perform oral sex on him, said Mark Halsey, prosecuting.

He said the offences were “strikingly similar” to offences Cable had been convicted of in 2003 after a trial at Norwich Crown Court.

He said the offences on that occasion, which Cable had denied, related to five schoolboys aged 11-14 who were members of the concert band run by Cable and received tuition from him at Stowmarket Middle School between 1970-1983.

He said the current allegations were made after the alleged victim discovered Cable had been convicted of sex offences and contacted a solicitor to ask for help concerning the alleged abuse he had suffered.

Mr Halsey said that when the alleged victim, who now in his fifties, told a police officer what Cable had allegedly done to him he had broken down in tears.

The court heard that Cable told police he didn’t recognised the boy’s name or a photograph of him.

The trial continues.