A GREENOCK man said to have subjected a teenage boy to almost three years of threatening and abusive behaviour was caught on camera after the alleged victim secretly set up a laptop to record and ‘expose’ him, a trial has been told.

Paul Murtagh is accused of acting aggressively towards the teen between July 2021 and January this year, as well as shouting, swearing, uttering threats of violence and repeatedly moving his possessions.

He denies the allegation.

Murtagh was employed as a secondary school teacher by Inverclyde Council at the time of some of the alleged offences and is still registered on the General Teaching Council for Scotland website.

However, the local authority has confirmed that the 41-year-old no longer works for them.

Prosecutors claim that Murtagh carried out the course of conduct at a property in Greenock’s west end.

The complainer, who is now aged 19, gave evidence via a video link on the opening day of a trial at Greenock Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

The witness told the court that he 'just got a bad vibe' from Murtagh, and claimed that the accused would regularly make ‘snide’ and ‘rude’ comments to him.

On one occasion, the teen said, Murtagh muttered an offensive remark under his breath after he had dropped a bottle of juice on the floor, leaving the teen ‘quite emotional’.

The witness described several alleged incidents which he said ‘made me upset’, and claimed that Murtagh had ‘hatred in his voice’.

The youngster said: “He was just against me.”

The trial heard that Murtagh moved the alleged victim’s belongings and was allegedly caught in the act after a Christmas party last year.

The witness said: “I stay in routine and I put things in specific places so that I know where they are.

“He would hide them in the most random places.

“I didn’t see him moving stuff but I had a suspicion it was him. Then I caught him in a video moving stuff around.”

After receiving a MacBook as an early Christmas gift, the teenager told the trial he set up the device and used its camera to record in his room while he was out.

The court was shown footage captured by the laptop, in which Murtagh is alleged to have hidden a gaming disc and a plug behind a wardrobe and under a bed.

The witness said: “I saved that for a couple of weeks because I didn’t want to ruin Christmas.

“It made me feel relieved that I knew where my stuff was from the video, but it still made me upset.

“I felt great because I wasn’t going crazy.”

The witness said Murtagh, of Dempster Street, made him feel ‘downgraded’ and alleged that Murtagh threatened to assault him after he was confronted on one occasion.

He added: “[The alleged behaviour was] like a big block.

“I couldn’t lock in or keep my own mindset. I couldn’t go through it.”

The trial, before Sheriff Sean Lynch, was adjourned part-heard until October 9.