A 32-year-old man on trial accused of having sex with a girl aged 14 believed she was over 16 when he saw her buying alcohol and cigarettes, a jury heard.

Abid Miskeen said the teenager told him she was nearly 17 and none of her family alerted him that she was underage.

Miskeen, of Little Horton Lane, Bradford, denies sexual activity with a child over an eight-month period last year.

Bradford Crown Court has heard that Miskeen’s affair with the girl left her pregnant and in Council care. He is accused of knowingly attending her 14th birthday party and being found with her late at night at a house in Bradford when the police were searching for her.

Prosecutor Gerald Hendron has told the jury the teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had strong feelings for Miskeen and he had sex with her.

He was arrested and the girl made the subject of a Police Protection Order and put into local authority care.

Miskeen told the jury today that when he first saw the girl she was drinking alcohol.

He then bumped into her in a local shop where she was buying drinks and cigarettes.

“I saw her smoking on numerous occasions and drinking alcohol,” he said.

Miskeen said they had sex once at his house a few days after the girl pulled him towards her and kissed him on the lips. She asked to go round to his home to discuss something important after he saw her at a friend’s house with a bottle of vodka.

She made the first moves and they had sex on his bed.

Miskeen said it was “a one-off” and he had never wanted to do it again.

“She used to freely and openly drink and smoke and I bumped into her in the shop where she was able to buy drinks and cigarettes,” he told the court.

He said she told him she had left school “a couple of years ago” and asked him to help her find a job.

The trial continues.