A 26-year-old man has gone on trial accused of raping and sexually abusing a young girl.

Shakeel Ahmed denies 12 allegations spanning five years.

A Bradford Crown Court jury heard today that he told the girl to put a scarf on her head and that they were going to get married before abusing her.

Ahmed – previously of Thornbury, Bradford, but now living in Aberdeenshire – denies two charges of indecent assault, eight of sexually abusing a child and two of rape, between 2003 and 2008.

Prosecutor Tom Storey told the jury the girl complained to a learning mentor at her school in May 2008 that she was being sexually abused.

The social services department and the police were called in and Ahmed was arrested in Scotland.

Mr Storey said Ahmed came to the UK from Pakistan in 2003 when he married a Bradford woman.

The relationship broke down after they had two children and he left the family home last year.

The girl told the court, via a video link, that Ahmed raped her after luring her upstairs by pretending his young son had been taken ill.

She said he was angry and she was afraid of him.

The girl said the second time it happened he threatened to hit her if she did not comply.

Ahmed told the police he had never touched the girl and she had made up all the allegations.

The trial continues.