A care worker plied a boy with wine before trying to have sex with him in a car park in a "classic" case of grooming, a court has heard.

Philip Collins, 69, is alleged to have groomed a seven-year-old boy between 1968 and 1976 and indecently assaulted him 17 times in that period. He also faces one count of attempted buggery.

The boy had been abandoned by his parents in the early 1960s and moved into a now-defunct care home in the Croydon area, where he first met Mr Collins.

The alleged victim, now in his 50s, told Croydon Crown Court today: "We all liked him. He was a nice guy and was fun to be around.

"He was boisterous and played rough and tumble games with the younger males."

Prosecutor Tim Forster told the jury: "He describes a classic case of being groomed. He expected love and care from them [care home staff] but he says that Phil Collins corrupted that care."

Mr Collins, of Worcester Road, Sutton, is accused of indecently assaulting the boy in his bedroom and in the bath, Mr Forster added.

When the boy was in his teens, Mr Collins allegedly plied him with wine at a restaurant after a trip to a fun fair in Battersea, then drove to a car park and tried to have sex with him.

Mr Forster said the boy had described feeling pain before blacking out in Mr Collin's car, and that, some time after this attack, Mr Collins later became more "sadistic" and spanked him.

Jurors were told that in the 1980s Mr Collins pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting three boys at two Kingston care homes.

He was fined £450 for the offences, committed between 1974 and 1977.

The trial continues.