A SCHOOLGIRL yesterday described the moment she feared she was going to be kidnapped or raped by a man accused of attacking her in the street.

The 14-year-old said she was followed and knocked to the ground by the man, who told her: "You're coming with me, you little slut."

The girl said she hit alleged attacker Christopher Howe with her school bag before he fled from the scene in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

A recording of the teenager's interview with police was played to a jury at Teesside Crown Court yesterday.

Mr Howe, 35, of Oakley Terrace, Bishop Auckland, denies the attempted abduction of a child.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed she was followed and tripped as she walked home from school on December 14, last year.

She told police she fought the attacker off until he fled, and she ran home to tell her mother of the alleged assault.

In the interview with a police officer, she said: "As I ran off, I started weeing myself because I was so frightened. I thought he was going to rape or kidnap me."

The girl claims she saw Mr Howe a day before the alleged abduction attempt, when he whistled at her as she passed in the town centre.

The recording of the 45-minute interview was followed by the girl being questioned via a video-link by barristers for the prosecution and the defence.

Paul Cleasby, defending, claimed the teenager either made up the attack or wrongly identified Mr Howe as the culprit.

Mr Cleasby began his cross-examination by telling the girl: "Christopher Howe, from the outset, says he is not the person who is responsible for attacking you and that you must have made a mistake about picking him out."

The barrister asked the girl why there were no witnesses to the attempted abduction, despite it allegedly being carried out next to a busy main road at time when hundreds of pupils from two schools would have been about.

The girl burst into tears when Mr Cleasby pressed her on the location of the alleged attack, near the junction of Cleveland Avenue and Brewer Street, which is a residential area with a doctors' surgery and chip shop.

He asked her: "I have got to ask you about this, but did it really happen?"

The girl replied: "I wouldn't be here if it didn't happen."

The case continues.