A MAN who was arrested for the kidnap and rape of a teenage girl told police that she had set him up, a court heard yesterday.

Steven Wilkinson said the girl had arranged to meet him on the night she later accused him of forcing her into his pick-up truck, driving her to his home and raping her.

Mr Wilkinson, 21, of Bowes Road, Barnard Castle, County Durham, said that he was banned from contacting her under a magistrates' court order.

But after she had telephoned him, they went to his house where they had kissed and cuddled on the settee before they went upstairs for consensual sex, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Later, he drove her home and, at her instruction, did not drop her off outside her house.

Mr Wilkinson told police: "She kissed me goodbye saying 'See you later, phone you, love you'."

When told later that she had accused him of kidnap and rape he said: "She has set me up."

Mr Wilkinson said that she had promised to phone him at 8pm after he dropped her off.

He said that she did not call, and when he called her home the phone was put down on him.

But Deborah Sherwin, prosecuting, said the girl told police that she was walking to a bus stop after work, on October 25 last year, when Mr Wilkinson dragged her into his Toyota pick-up. She said he held her in a headlock as he drove to his home, then slapped her face and raped her in his bedroom.

Mr Wilkinson has pleaded not guilty to kidnap and rape and three breaches of a restraining order between October and last March.

The trial continues.