An hysterical teenager was seen running down the middle of a country road after she escaped from her alleged attacker, a jury heard.

The youngster was helped by people in a passing car and was eventually taken to the Flappit pub, near Keighley.

In a statement read to Bradford Crown Court one of the women who tried to comfort the 13-year-old described her as being in a terrible state.

Zoe Bagshaw added: "She was absolutely hysterical. She could hardly speak. All I could understand was 'man' and 'bus driver'.'' She said the girl complained about her arm hurting and when she rolled up her sleeve she could see what looked like a bite mark.

Bus driver Alan Higgins, 42, is alleged to have attempted to murder the youngster after he gave her a lift in his car and drove to an isolated moorland road last January. Higgins, of Oakworth Road, Exley Head, Keighley, has admitted kidnapping, but denies attempting to murder the girl.

He has also denied an alternative charge of attempting to strangle her and indecent assault.

Another woman, Michelle Walker, said the girl was screaming and sobbing and kept saying things like 'He's going to get me.'

Detective Constable Sally Holmes said when she got to the pub the girl was "totally in bits''.

Higgins is alleged to have pulled out a screwdriver before telling the girl to remove her jeans.

When she refused he is said to have told her he was going to kill her.

The girl says she blacked out when Higgins grabbed her round the throat with both hands and alleges that she was hit and bitten by him before she managed to escape from his Fiat car. The jury heard evidence about the girl's injuries which included red marks around her neck, bite marks to her right shoulder, arm and hand as well as small haemorrhages below both eyes.

Home Office pathologist Dr Susan Claydon said the haemorrhages and throat marks were consistent with an attempted strangulation.

Under cross-examination she conceded however that some of the neck marks could have been caused by an arm.

The jury also heard witnesses who said they saw Higgins' car swerving from side to side, with the front passenger door open and its horn sounding.

Mark Smith described seeing a man and a girl struggling in the car and said the driver appeared to have his arm around her neck or mouth.

The girl told Higgins's QC Roger Keen that she had not been exaggerating her injuries and everything that happened to her. The trial continues.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.