A police officer indecently assaulted a young mother in the back of a police van, a court was told yesterday.

PC Andrew Shearer, 29, an officer with the Cleveland force, ran his hand up the legs of the 21-year-old as she gave another officer directions, Leeds Crown Court heard.

John Aitken, prosecuting, told the jury that the woman and a teenage friend had gone for a late-night walk in a park in Hemlington, Middlesbrough, last August, when they were approached by two policemen in a van investigating reports of a burglary.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she and her friend climbed into the van to have their details checked and started joking with the officers.

She said PC Shearer tried on her white Kangol flat cap because he wanted one for golf, while she tried on the peaked cap belonging to the other officer.

But she said that, as she was giving them directions out of the park, she felt PC Shearer's hand on her legs.

''At first it was too gentle and I didn't know what it was, so I kept talking,'' she said.

''But then his hand went up my legs. It was definite. It wasn't gentle. It wasn't a brush like the first one.

''I was trying to tell the other policeman what was happening but I couldn't get the words out. I was really shaking. He was touching me between the legs."

The woman said she turned round, grabbed her friend and fled.

She said: ''PC Shearer was shouting after me 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was only joking. It was an accident, come back' - but I didn't go back.''

The young mother said she and her friend ran to her home and contacted the police.

PC Shearer, a divorced father from Stockton-on-Tees, was arrested but denied there had been any deliberate touching.

The officer, who denies a charge of indecent assault, said in interview he had been standing outside the van when the woman backed on to his arm.

The case continues.