A BLACK postman on trial for a string of sex crimes against young girls has claimed he is a victim of a racist police conspiracy.

Peter Stafford-Simpson, 47, of Fenton Road, Lockwood, is standing trial accused of 21 sexual offences including the rape of a child under 16.

He denies all charges.

During the trial Stafford-Simpson has repeatedly told the jury at Leeds Crown Court that the police have got the wrong man and all the alleged victims are mistaken.

Yesterday, as prosecuting barrister Rob Miers asked him why mobile phones that belonged to him had a series of texts and calls with the five alleged victims, he claimed the police had set him up.

He told the jury he was being targeted because he was black and said the police had bullied all the witnesses into framing him.

Mr Miers asked: “Are you saying this is a police fit-up?”

“Something along those lines,” Stafford-Simpson replied.

“They’ve pinned it on me, they need to get the right person.

“People they’ve convicted are usually Asian or black – I think it’s a racist organisation.”

Mr Miers: “So all the girls have been bullied into it by the police?”

Stafford-Simpson: “This might have happened to these girls, but it wasn’t me.”

Stafford-Simpson said he thought much of the evidence had been falsified and also claimed he had been a victim of police harassment since his initial arrest.

He said he had been stopped and searched on suspicion of drugs and burglary crimes for no reason.

But he told the jury he was glad he was on trial so he could clear his name.

The trial continues.