A GIRL said that a man accused of indecently touching her told her he did it because he was "obsessed" by her, a court heard.

Durham Crown Court was shown the video-taped police interview with the girl, now aged 14, on the second day of the re-trial of Harry Devine.

The former independent member of Easington District Council is accused of a single count of indecently assaulting the girl, when she was aged either ten or 11.

It is alleged he touched her indecently as he helped her out of wet clothes on their return to County Durham after she fell in the lake at Peasholm Park on a trip to Scarborough, in 2001 or 2002.

The girl told police Mr Devine liked to give her cuddles and, asked why, she said: "He said it was because he was obsessed with us."

She said he would sit her on his knee while allowing her to use his computer. He always closed the blinds when she was there.

The girl told her police interviewer that after he touched her indecently, Mr Devine said he did it because he was obsessed by her.

Under cross-examination by defence advocate Peter Schofield, the girl agreed she had not told her mother about the incident, at the time. Asked why, she said she feared her mother would have "killed him" if she found out.

The court has also heard that photographs of the girl were found when police searched Mr Devine's home after his arrest, when the allegation emerged, in June 2003.

A video tape taken by Mr Devine of the girl and a friend paddling on the foreshore at Saltburn, east Cleveland, in their swimming costumes, in which the camera focuses on their crotch areas, was also shown to the jury.

Mr Devine, formerly of Salter's Lane, Wingate, County Durham, denies indecent assault.

The court has been told that a jury failed to reach a verdict on the charge at the original trial, in March last year.

The case continues.