A TEENAGE boy has gone on trial accused of raping two girls.

The youngster, who cannot be named because of his age, previously pleaded not guilty to five charges of rape of a girl and four of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

The boy, from County Durham, appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Jo Kidd, prosecuting, told the court how the offences allegedly happened between July 2015 and January last year when the defendant is said to have raped the two girls on the upstairs landing of his family home.

She said the girls told police they had been raped by the teenager on at least two occasions during the school holidays, in the presence of two other youngsters.

She added that one of them acted as a “lookout” in case he was disturbed.

The eldest girl also said she witnessed sex acts carried out in front of the girls “whilst the parents would be downstairs oblivious as to what was going on”.

Ms Kidd said the youngest girl who claims to have been raped finally confided in a family friend who regularly looked after her on a weekend to give her parents some “respite”.

“She [the family friend] began to feel that she [the girl] was becoming anxious, quiet and withdrawn,” she said.

“As a result she sat down with her at the beginning of September 2015 and she (the girl) made a disclosure to her saying he (the defendant) was ‘doing dirty things with us and having sex with us’.”

Ms Kidd said the child also accused the defendant of threatening her, saying that if she told anyone the girls would be split up and taken away by the police.

Evidence from a forensic scientist was also presented to District Judge Kristina Harrison who heard how five pairs of the girls’ underwear recovered from the girls’ bedroom were found to contain the defendant’s DNA.

The two girls who have accused the defendant of raping them also gave evidence via video link and denied they were mistaken when Michael Clarke, defending, said his client had told him the incidents did not happen.

Mr Clarke said: “He (the defendant) denies any sexual activity....ever took place.”

The trial resumes today.