A YOUNG man who denies indecently assaulting a seven-year-old girl yesterday admitted he was in the area at the time of the incident.

Twenty-year-old Mark Jackson is accused of approaching the girl from behind, on an alley-way near Barnard Castle town centre, before picking her up and trying to look at her underwear.

Durham Crown Court was told the terrified girl broke free and was threatened by the man as she fled the scene. Mr Jackson was arrested nine days after the incident, in June, when a police inspector stopped him due to his likeness to an e-fit of the suspect.

He told police he did not carry out the attack, and, despite subsequently being picked out by the girl on a video identity parade, repeated his denials.

Giving evidence yesterday on the second day of his trial, Mr Jackson said he would have been on his lunch break from a florist's shop in Barnard Castle at the time of the incident.

But he said he bought a baguette at a local baker's shop, ate it outside, and spoke at length to a friend on his mobile phone, before returning to the florists. He denied seeing the girl and also said none of the other men featured on the video identity parade bore any resemblance to him.

Mr Jackson, formerly of Green Lane, Barnard Castle, but living recently at a bail address in Darlington, denies indecent assault.

The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict today.