A 24-YEAR-OLD MAN had sex in a Bradford city centre hotel with a 13-year-old girl playing truant from school, a jury heard today.

The teenager changed out of her school uniform in public toilets in the Kirkgate shopping centre and met up with Kamran Ali in McDonald's after they had chatted on Facebook.

He took her to the Travelodge hotel in Valley Road where they had sex in a double-bedded room.

Ali, now 26, of Shay Crescent, Heaton, Bradford, denies sexual activity with a child on January 28, 2013.

Prosecutor Richard Clewes told Bradford Crown Court the teenager got ready for school but went instead to meet another girl in the city centre.

Her friend rang the school, pretending to be the girl's mother and saying she was off that day because she was ill.

The girl contacted Ali and they walked together to the hotel where they were captured on CCTV at the reception desk.

Ali paid for the first floor room with a bank card and they stayed in there from around noon until 8.15pm.

Mr Clewes said the school was suspicious about the girl's absence and rang her mother.

"The cat was out of the bag and she was reported missing to the police at 3pm."

The girl's friend told the police she was with Ali and an officer spoke to him on the phone.

"He was cagey to say the least," Mr Clewes said.

Ali then sent text messages to the girl's phone, while they were both still at the hotel, telling her to go home to her worried family.

"These were bogus texts designed to throw the police off the scent," Mr Clewes told the court.

The police took the girl's knickers for forensic examination and Ali's DNA was found on them.

"The real issue in the case is 'What did he know about her age? What age did he believe her to be?" Mr Clewes said.

The Crown's case is this Ali "knew perfectly well" that she was 13.

The girl told the police Ali had been a Facebook friend for some time but had messaged her only two weeks before they met.

He asked her out and she thought they were going to the hotel to "just chill".

She watched TV in the room before Ali undressed her and took his clothes off.

He did not force her to do anything and she was happy to have sex with him, she said during interview.

The trial continues.