The trial of a Welshpool man accused of a string of sexual offences against children heard him repeatedly insist that he did not send the messages linking him to the allegations as he took to the stand today.

Much of the fourth day of Tom Piggott's trial at Mold Crown Court on Thursday (July 22) saw prosecutor Ffion Tomos cross-examining the defendant about the 10 offences of which he is accused.

She questioned him on the messages sent to three of the alleged victims from a device linked to Piggott's social media and phone number – but was met with outright denial from the defendant who repeatedly told her his devices had been hacked, responding to her questions with: "I wouldn't know as I didn't send the messages."

Miss Tomos pointed out to Piggott that he had been sending other messages of a non-sexual nature to other contacts, including to a swimming coach, at almost exactly the same time as those that went to his alleged victims.

But when the prosecution said that he was responsible for the messages to the victims, Piggott argued that a hacker must have been using his phone at the same time.

He also denied making a 17-minute video call to one alleged victim, suggesting that a hacker had taken over his phone.

In another message about a girl he was attracted to, he wrote that "I was lucky her dad didn’t call the cops" – but explained that this was because she was on the "cusp" of turning 16, despite her being at least two years below that age. He denied having sex with that girl.

He also denied sending messages on Instagram to another victim, saying that she must have learnt his name through the hacker's use of the app.

But he also admitted that over the course of the three-year period, he had never noticed his accounts or devices being hacked.

In closing her questioning of Piggott, Miss Tomos said "you have lied to the jury throughout and you sexually assaulted three children", and pointed out that in a police interview he had not raised the 'hacking'. He once again denied the accusations against him, and said he did not mention the hacking as he was on remand.

Piggot stands accused of two counts of raping a child, three counts of sexual assault on a child, two counts of inciting a child to take part in a sexual act, and three counts of making indecent images of children. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.

The jury will return on Friday morning before being sent away to deliberate.

The trial continues.