A MAN has denied ‘tricking’ a 15-year-old girl into his car before raping her in a woodland in Woodley, a court has heard.

David Birmingham, 47, is on trial at Reading Crown Court charged with one count of rape, one count of assault by penetration and two counts of sexual activity with a child – all alleged to have happened on August 25, 2018.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told police Birmingham had allegedly used ‘trickery and bribery to get his own way’ as well as ‘pestering’ her prior to the alleged assault.

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Birmingham’s defence case is that the allegations are fabricated and ‘simply a lie’.

Opening the trial on Monday (June 5), prosecutor Richard Hearnden said: “This case concerns a young woman who was raped by Mr Birmingham.

“I called her a young woman but legally and in the eyes of anybody really, she was a child, a girl.

“The defendant denies that any rape or any sexual activity took place. Many people think of a rape as something happens between strangers, perhaps it happens in a dark alley where force is used by the perpetrator.

“Many people think they know what a rapist looks like but again the experience of the courts is there is simply no stereotype.

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“How a victim of an alleged rape acts or reacts is also subject to many myths and folklores. We therefore ask for you to put any preconceptions out of your mind and focus on the evidence in court.

“He didn’t use force. [The girl] said he used trickery and bribery to get his own way. He said he wanted to f*** her and he pestered her and sent her photos of his penis.”

Mr Hearnden briefly summarised the alleged incident in which the girl claims Birmingham persuaded her to get into his car before he drove them to a ‘secluded, rural woodland’.

“She said she found it physically uncomfortable and made her feel disgusting,” said Mr Hearnden. “The defence case is understood to be that the rape is simply a lie, a fabrication – the defendant denies any sexual allegations.”

The court heard briefly that there were messages exchanged between Birmingham and the girl which he is expected to say were ‘innocent’ and the prosecution have ‘misunderstood’ them.

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Birmingham, of Mayfair in Tilehurst, is on bail while the trial, which is expected to last about five days, continues.