A Catholic priest on trial for sexually abusing a child has denied the offences happened – but admitted he has an “issue with feet”, and downloaded photographs of them online.

Piotr Antoni Glas (61) also admitted that he took a bag of children’s socks from a secondary school in Southampton, and brought them to Jersey with him when he moved to the island.

Mr Glas was giving evidence on the fifth day of his Royal Court trial.

The priest faces seven counts of committing an act of gross indecency.

The presiding judge, Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae, found yesterday that three of the charges previously faced by Mr Glas could not lead to a guilty verdict. The jury will still need to decide on the remaining seven charges, all of committing acts of gross indecency.

Yesterday, Mr Glas told jurors that the alleged victim visited his home at their own request.

The defendant explained that he had suffered from back problems since he was a teenager, and that – inspired by a “Thai massage” he got – he asked the child to walk on his back.

He recalled: “When [the child] used to come, a couple of times I asked [them]: ‘Would you like to walk on my back?’

“And [they] said sure, no problem. I said very very gently.”

But the priest denied ever asking the child to walk on his front.

He recalled one instance when he claimed he had been lying on the floor at his house, stretching, and the child came over to visit.

He said: “[They] saw me and threw [themselves] on me and started fighting, playing, not a fight but a play-fight.”

Mr Glas admitted that he had an “issue with feet”, when asked by Advocate Simon Thomas, defending.

He said this had started around the age of 16 or 17.

“I just started to be attracted to this. I never figured out why,” he said.

He described himself as “ashamed” and said that he had ignored the issue for some time, until he got his first computer and was “playing around and clicking, clicking, clicking” until he landed on what he described as “a feet site”. This was “not pornographic”, he said.

He said he downloaded photographs on the site and later forgot about them.

The Deputy Bailiff asked him: “Why did you download the photographs?”

Mr Glas said: “I would like to explain to myself why, but I can’t.”

The priest described a “dramatic event” when the child accused him of looking at their feet.

It was at this point that the child brought up having seen pictures of feet on the priest’s computer, Mr Glas said.

He said the child punched him repeatedly and gave him a black eye.

The priest described fighting with the child as “the most traumatic day of my life”.

Advocate Thomas put to Mr Glas that the child had found a bag of children’s socks at his home and asked for an explanation.

The complainant told the court earlier this week that Mr Glas claimed he collected the socks from the changing rooms of a secondary school in Southampton where he worked as a priest before coming to Jersey.

Responding to Advocate Thomas, the priest confirmed he had been visiting a religious school to deliver a service while he was living in Southampton.

He said: “One day, I was quite early. [I said] let’s go to the gym to do some exercises and I did and I was walking around seeing the gym well before there was anyone there.

“All of a sudden I saw a bag of socks. I just took it. I don’t know why. I don’t know a rational explanation.

“I took it back home… and forgot about it. I just took them to Jersey with me when I was moving.”

The Deputy Bailiff asked him: “Did you carry your socks with you to the service?”

Mr Glas replied: “I don’t remember what happened.”

The trial is set to continue next week.