A MAN befriended a young girl and told her she could confide in him "like a godfather", before sexually exploiting her, a court heard.

In video evidence seen by a jury at Salisbury Crown Court this week, the youngster, who was just 14 when the alleged abuse began, said Darren Candler did basically everything to me except full sex'.

The court heard the girl was a regular visitor to Candler's home at Northside, Old Sarum.

She said he told her she could confide in him about her teenage problems, but that she began to feel uneasy when one day he kissed her on the cheek and hugged her.

He also showed her porn on his computer, she claimed, and told her she "should be having fun".

Prosecutor Richard Onslow told the court he then progressed to touching her inappropriately and then committing a sex act in front of her.

She said: "I felt like I should have walked out, but I was too scared."

In all, Candler denies 17 counts of sexual activity and sexual assault involving a total of three young girls.

Mr Onslow said one of the girls introduced Candler, a married man, to one of her friends.

The second girl also began spending evenings at his house, and Candler tried to kiss and touch her. Once, it was alleged, he went to her home when her mother was out and put his hand under her clothing.

It is also alleged he lay on top of her on a sofa under the pretext of demonstrating a sexual position.

The jury heard that after Candler's arrest last year on charges relating to these two girls, another woman claimed she had been indecently assaulted by him between 1995 and 1997, starting when she was 14.

She claimed that on one occasion he sat astride her on a sofa and persuaded her to touch him intimately when she had had too much to drink.

He also allegedly wrote to her telling her he wanted to run away with her, before her mother became suspicious and stopped her from seeing him.

Mr Onslow said: "This man is very much too fond of girls under the age of 16.

"He tries to gain their trust by becoming a friend of the family.

Often these girls are a bit troubled, as teenagers are. He then takes advantage of them."

The trial continues.

7:35am Thursday 26th June 2008

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