A 55-year-old man is on trial accused of sexually abusing two girls when his parents ran a hotel in central Bradford almost 40 years ago.

James Pemberton denies 17 charges, including one of attempted rape, ten of indecent assault and six of indecency with a child.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that the allegations dated from the mid-1970s when his mother and father ran the hotel and pub near Bradford city centre.

Pemberton, now of Glenlea Close, Pudsey, would have been about 17 years old at the time, prosecuting barrister Adrian Strong told the jury.

Mr Strong said the girls, now women in their 40s, accused the defendant of abusing them many times at the hotel over a two-year period.

Pemberton is said to have threatened the elder girl that she would be locked up in a young offender institution if she told anyone what was happening to her.

He is alleged to have kept the younger girl quiet by telling her he would go to prison if she talked about what he was doing to her.

The women accuse him of taking photos of them on a Polaroid camera while they lay on a bed naked from the waist down.

He is said to have given them little thank-you gifts after abusing them, including sweets, pens, books and the used flashbulbs off the camera.

Mr Strong said the older girl was dragged to an attic room at the hotel and locked in while Pemberton, known as Jimmy, sexually assaulted her.

She alleges he tried to rape her after pinning her down on a bed.

Mr Strong said Pemberton strongly denied touching either girl inappropriately. His case was that the women were wrong, mistaken or lying.

“He absolutely denies that there was ever any sexual abuse,” Mr Strong said.

The trial continues.