A FORMER councillor accused of indecently assaulting a young girl visited a police station after he heard of the allegations.

Durham Crown Court was told that later on the day the girl was interviewed by officers about the alleged incident, Harry Devine arrived unannounced at Peterlee Police Station.

Detective Constable Steve Hedley said Mr Devine was arrested and placed in cells while authorisation was sought to search his house, in Salter's Lane, in the east Durham village of Wingate, in June 2003.

The court heard that among the items recovered was a letter purporting to be from the girl to Mr Devine, in which she supposedly said she believed he was angry with her because she wanted to have sex with him.

The court has already been told that Mr Devine admitted writing the letter and made it look like it was from the girl to him.

Asked why, he told police it was for counter-blackmail reasons.

Det Con Hedley read the court extracts from Mr Devine's subsequent interviews with officers.

He was asked about allegations, including the girl's claim that he indecently touched her while helping her to change out of wet clothing following a trip to Scarborough when she was aged ten or 11, in either 2001 or the following year. Mr Devine told the detective: "They are not true. They are palpably false."

Asked about the girl, Mr Devine said: "She appears angelic and sweetly spoken, but underneath there is a very different side to her."

Later in the interview, Mr Devine said she once tried to blackmail him.

He cited an example when she asked him for £1.

Mr Devine said the girl then told him: "If you do not give me the £1, I will tell the police you touched us."

Asked by a detective for his reaction to this, he said: "I was annoyed with her.

"She did not have to say things like that."

Mr Devine, a former Independent member of Easington District Council for the Wingate ward, denies indecently assaulting the girl.

The trial continues today.