A MAN is alleged to have raped an eight-year-old girl in an alleyway, a court has heard.

Edwin Christopher Shield, 42, is accused of putting his hand over the girl's mouth, then kissing her and raping her.

The girl told police he then punched her and threatened to hit her again if she told anyone what happened.

A jury at Durham Crown Court was told the incident happened on Saturday, January 29, this year.

John Elvidge, prosecuting, said the girls' parents became concerned because she began acting unusually over the weekend. Mr Elvidge said: "When she came home from school on the Monday, they decided to find out why she was behaving like she was."

He said the girl told them what had happened and the police were informed.

The following day, she gave her account of the alleged attack, in a video interview played to the court yesterday.

She said Mr Shield was wearing a fluorescent yellow work-type coat, with silver stripes on the sleeves, at the time of the incident.

Mr Elvidge said two witnesses saw Mr Shield wearing a coat of similar description, in the company of young girls, in the area at about 5pm on January 29. Mr Shield denied the allegations and, while agreeing he owns a yellow fluorescent coat, said he was wearing a blue coat that day.

Mr Shield, of Manor Grove, Cockfield, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, denies rape and sexual assault of a girl under 13.

The trial continues today.