A MINISTER yesterday claimed he was carrying out God's will as he spanked two young boys with a leather belt.

Martin Trench told a court: "I did it in the name of God and I have a deep strong faith in God.

"The use of implements is quite common among Evangelical Christians, certainly people have recommended it during the course of my studies."

Trench, 36, denies assaulting two boys by repeatedly striking them with a belt between 1998 and 2002.

The minister claimed there was always a "cooling off period" between any misbehaviour and subsequent "chastisement".

He told Ayr Sheriff Court he often hugged the children afterwards and only ever belted them through their clothing.

Peter Lockhart, defending, asked the minister: "You're a man of God and know the difference between good and evil. Was there any evil intent when you struck the children?"

The minister replied: "Absolutely not. My motives were noble and pure."

Earlier in the case, Trench's ex-wife Nicola Butler described him as a dictator.

Yesterday, Trench said he took advice from the Christian Institute website that "physical discipline should be with an external object and only applied to the buttocks".

He added: "As a Christian, I believed it was appropriate." Trench admitted smacking one boy, now nine, on two occasions and another boy, now eight, once.

Of the second occasion, when both boys were belted, Trench said: "I was a little tearful. It was the second time I used the belt and I thought, `I don't want to be constantly doing this.' "

The minister admitted he struck the boys, who can't be named for legal reasons, with six inches of a thin black leather belt but denied using the buckled end.

Trench claimed he used a "mild and moderate force" despite the two boys' evidence that he caused them pain.

He said: "I'm not a great fan of corporal punishment but I believe there may be a few occasions where, as a last resort, it might be appropriate."

When asked by Mr Lockhart whether he stood by his description of the belting as "loving chastisement", Trench replied: "Yes I do.

"My understanding was that the use of an implement had not been outlawed and that the law permitted reasonable chastisement."

Trench claimed he stopped using a belt for punishment after the issue was raised in Parliament.

Trench, minister of the River Ministry Christian Fellowship Evangelical Church in Ayr, is accused of beating a six-year-old boy, now nine, with the buckle end of a leather belt.

The court heard the beating was punishment for a bad school report.

The second boy said he was hit several times with the leather part of the belt.

Trench said he had been smacked on the bottom with a hand and a slipper as a child.

He said he was convinced the boys had been "manipulated" and encouraged to exaggerate their accusations.

Trench said he belted the older boy after he went to the toilet outdoors because it was "absolutely disgusting, disrespectful behaviour".

He added: "I had to teach him not to do it again." The case continues.