A CHILD bridesmaid was raped in the dress she was trying on for the wedding, a jury at Bradford Crown Court heard.

“I don’t know whether I was crying or screaming, because it hurt so much.

“I just blanked it out because I did not know what was happening,” the complainant, now in her late 40s, told the police.

She alleges that John Sutcliffe, 57, repeatedly sexually abused her when she was a child and he was in his 20s.

Sutcliffe, who was then living in Tyersal, Bradford, but is now of Sandbrook Road, Southport, denies three charges of rape and three counts of indecent assault.

Prosecutor Gerald Hendron told the court yesterday the woman went to the police in 2014 with allegations against Sutcliffe, who denies any wrongdoing.

She told the police in a video interview played to the jury that she thought she would take the secret to the grave.

The woman, who is not from the Bradford area, said Sutcliffe first raped her when she was trying on a bridesmaid dress.

He told her to sit on the sofa in the frock before taking off her pants and raping her.

The woman said Sutcliffe, who was wearing a Liverpool football shirt, kept telling her: “It’s our secret. No-one needs to know.”

She alleges that Sutcliffe went on to commit further rapes and repeatedly sexually assaulted her “every chance he got”.

“I felt loved. Somebody was giving me attention and I did not know it was wrong,” she said.

She felt that if she told anyone, she would not be believed.

Mr Hendron told the jury: “She was too young to understand and could not and did not consent to what took place.”

He alleged the charges were samples of a course of behaviour that happened on numerous occasions.

Mr Hendron said the complainant began self-harming at the ages of 12 and 13, cutting her hands with a razor.

The court heard the woman told her husband what Sutcliffe had done to her and he persuaded her to go to the police.

  • The jury was discharged today for legal reasons. Sutcliffe, who was granted bail, will face a retrial on September 4 this year.