A FORMER councillor has denied having an interest in young girls.

Harry Devine was addressing a jury at Durham Crown Court at his retrial on an indecent assault charge relating to a girl aged ten or 11.

Mr Devine, a former Easington district councillor, is alleged to have touched the girl indecently while helping her undress from wet clothing on their return from a trip to Scarborough, North Yorkshire, where she fell in Peasholm Park lake.

A jury failed to reach a verdict when the case was first heard at the court last March.

Yesterday, cross-examining Mr Devine on the sixth day of the retrial, Adrian Dent, prosecuting, asked him about subsequent incidents involving young girls.

The court was told these included approaching a 12-year-old girl in a park at Bridlington, North Yorkshire, which led to his arrest, and speaking to a 14-year-old girl at Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, over which he was spoken to by police.

Mr Dent said both incidents took place while Mr Devine was on bail to a London address after the initial trial.

In response, Mr Devine said he informed his solicitors he was going on holiday.

Mr Dent asked him: "Surely the truth is you cannot stop yourself making contact with young girls of this approximate age group?"

Mr Devine said: "I do make contact with people young, middle-aged or whatever."

Asked if he had been anywhere else on these "expeditions", Mr Devine said he visited Glastonbury and the Isle of Wight pop festivals last summer.

He was also asked about tabloid newspaper cuttings found at his home, including one headlined Corrie's Corkers, about young stars in Coronation Street.

Mr Devine said he kept it because he was a big fan of the TV soap.

In his closing speech, Mr Devine, who is representing himself, told the jury: "The police say I have an interest in children 12 or 13-years-old, but I have not.

"Children do not bother me in that way. They never have done and never will do."

Mr Devine, 54, of Salters Lane, Wingate, east Durham, denies indecent assault.

The jury is expected to retire today to consider its verdict.