A WOMAN yesterday told a court about a string of sex attacks which she claimed a pensioner committed against her over two decades.

Brian Leslie Paylor, of Middleton St George, near Darlington, denies four charges of sexual assault spanning from 1977 to 2000, including one of rape, one of attempted rape and two indecent assaults.

The 66-year-old widower, of Thorntree Gardens, is also alleged to have used a sex toy during some of the sexual abuse, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Yesterday, his alleged victim outlined a catalogue of attacks that she said started before she was 13 and continued until she was in her mid-30s.

The majority of the offences allegedly took place over a five-year period from 1977 to 1982, with the attempted rape charge supposedly to have occurred in about 1999 to 2000.

In a police interview played to the court, the jury heard the victim say her ordeal had mentally scarred her.

She said: "I find it hard talking about all those years that I have been in his hands.

"It's just in my head, it is just stuck there and I know it had never happened before."

As a young child, the victim suffered from epilepsy and throughout her 20s and 30s she has been treated for depression, the jury heard.

Under cross-examination, defence barrister Deborah Sherwin asked the witness how she managed to keep the abuse a secret for so long despite having plenty of opportunity to speak out.

Speaking via a video link, the victim said: "The only thing I couldn't talk about was my sex abuse. I found it hard and I was scared.

"I was scared and frightened about what he would do to me.

"He used to tell me it was our little secret."

But the victim did accept that her attacker had never threatened her physically.

Miss Sherwin suggested the reason she had kept it quiet was because it had never happened.

Judge Peter Armstrong heard that the abuse started when the victim was about 11-years-old and continued until February 1992 when there was a break of seven years before the final alleged attack.

The victim reported the alleged incidents to a specialist police officer in April last year.

But the court heard that during police interviews following Mr Paylor's arrest, he refused to answer questions and exercised his right to silence.

Mr Paylor's defence is due to open this morning when he is expected to be the first witness to take the stand.

The case continues.