The man, now in his 30s, had suffered years of depression after the alleged abuse by James Braid, Portsmouth Crown Court was told.

Recalling the night her husband told her about the abuse, his wife said: 'He was just devastated and in agony.

'He was curled up in a ball, sobbing, very distressed. I spent the next, probably a couple of hours, trying to comfort him and calm him down.

'He was saying he was a bad person. He said that he was bad and very, very upset.'

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is the second alleged victim to give evidence against the 58-year-old.

Braid, who was a teacher at Bay House School, Gosport, for 30 years, is accused of abusing four boys over a 20-year period.

The man's wife said she persuaded her husband to see a psychologist to talk about what he had been through.

But the couple had never discussed details of the alleged abuse.

She added: 'I still don't know a lot of the detail.'

When police got in touch with her husband as part of their investigation into Braid – following a separate allegation by another man – she said he was relieved to tell them what had happened.

She told the court: 'He said he just knew it was about the abuse so he phoned the police back.

'It was stressful for him, and at the same time he felt he had been expecting it all these years and it finally happening was a relief.

'Having told the police, he felt the police believed him and that made him feel validated, I guess, that maybe it wasn't his fault.'

Braid denies seven counts of indecent assault, one of rape and another sexual offence.

(Proceeding)


ALARM HALTS PROCEEDINGS

The trial of James Braid was put on hold after a fire alarm brought an end to the day's proceedings.

Portsmouth Crown Court was evacuated just before 3pm yesterday.

After the evacuation there was then a problem with steam in the building's boiler room, which prevented the fire alarms from working properly.

An engineer was called in but with no working alarm the building was declared unsafe and the jury was sent home.

>> Vote in our latest web poll.