A HOMELESS man raped a runaway teenage girl in a tent he had pitched behind a Bradford church, it is alleged.

Thomas Farndale, 29, promised to look after the 17-year-old he met by chance at 11pm but instead took advantage of her, a jury at Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Farndale, of no fixed address, pleads not guilty to raping the girl on the night of February 26 to 27 in the grounds of St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in East Parade.

He says she consented to sex and was a willing and enthusiastic partner.

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Prosecutor Ian Brook said the pair met by chance late at night and Farndale gave the teenager a bottle of WKD.

They smoked and chatted and she told the police "he seemed very nice and kind".

She got into the smaller tent and he joined her.

She froze when he kissed her and took off her clothes.

"She felt terrified and did not know what to do," Mr Brook said.

He told the jury: "The defendant took advantage of a very vulnerable young woman knowing that she had run away from home and had nowhere to stay and it was approaching midnight."

Farndale claims the girl has told a pack of lies.

In police interview he said she invited him to "dive into" the tent with her and then made the first moves.

"She was all over me like a rash," he said .

The trial continues.