A FITNESS consultant went on trial yesterday, accused of indecently assaulting a teenage schoolgirl in a sauna room.

Michael Hirst is alleged to have pushed his hand up the girl's top and touched her breast after kissing her, at the Shildon Leisure Centre.

The teenager told the jury at Teesside Crown Court she had gone into the sauna room with a friend, but Mr Hirst told her friend to wait outside because he wanted to talk to her.

Mr Hirst, 32, of Morrison Close, Newton Aycliffe, appeared before the court charged with one offence of indecent assault.

He has denied the charge.

Yesterday, Dan Cordey, prosecuting, said when Mr Hirst was interviewed by the police he accepted he had been in the sauna room with the girl, but said that the door was ajar and there was no physical contact between them.

The girl told the court she had gone to the leisure centre in March with her friend, towards the end of the day.

She said Mr Hirst was locking up the sports hall at the time and told her he wanted to speak to her.

She said he asked them to go and sit in the sauna room while he was locking up.

After a few minutes he walked into the room, and asked her friend to wait outside.

The girl said when she got up to leave Mr Hirst grabbed her by the arms, spun her round and touched her breast.

Under cross-examination by Rod Hunt, for Mr Hirst, the girl accepted she had written a letter to a teacher at her school in which she described the teacher as better than Leonardo Di Caprio and wrote that her waking moments were haunted by dreams of him.

But she said that the letter, which had been copied out of a magazine, had been a joke for Valentine's Day.

The girl denied she had any feelings for Mr Hirst.

The case continues.