A FATHER of two has denied sexually assaulting a girl in the street.

George Dowse is accused of cycling up to the teenager, grabbing her hand and thrusting it down his trousers while trying to kiss her.

The prosecution in the Teesside Crown Court trial say the night shift worker then suggested they have sex in a grassed area, but she fought him off.

Mr Dowse, 29, of Sledmere Close, Peterlee, denies sexually assault in September 2012.

He has also pleaded not guilty to a second charge of attempted sexual assault against the same teenager in October the same year.

This time he is alleged to have approached the girl and grabbed her wrist, but she managed to run off.

Prosecuting, Simon Reevell said: “When he attacked [the victim] he knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted sex, but she was able to stop that.”

Mr Reevell said it was “inconceivable” the girl was trying to con the jury but William Davison, defending, suggested she was looking for sympathy and had told a white lie which then snowballed.

He told the jury the teenager contradicted herself several times and a description of the attacker’s clothing matched most men aged 18 to 40 in Peterlee.

Mr Dowse, who insists neither incident happened, admitted in his evidence smoking cannabis and using cocaine.

But Judge Howard Crowson said this was not significant and did not make it more or less likely that he had committed the offences.

The trial continues.