A MAN aged 75 is on trial at Bradford Crown Court accused of sexually abusing a young girl over an eight year period 30 years ago.

Dinzey Hazel lifted the child up, telling her he was stronger than Geoff Capes, before setting her down on top of him to molest her, the jury was told yesterday.

Hazel, of Church Street, Manningham, Bradford, pleads not guilty to seven offences of indecent assault and five charges of indecency with child, all involving the same alleged victim when she was aged between five and 12.

Prosecutor Gerald Hendron told the court the complainant was now in her early 40s.

She went to the police with her allegations in 2013, saying she was routinely abused by Hazel at two addresses in Manningham.

She told the police she froze the first time Hazel sexually assaulted her, when she was about five years old.

The woman claims he abused her while they watched a film together that contained scenes of a man having sex with different women.

He also told her: "I bet I'm stronger than Geoff Capes" and lifted her up before putting her down on top of him and sexually abusing her, said Mr Hendron.

She alleged she was molested so frequently that it became "a bit of a routine".

"She gradually realised that what was happening to her was not happening to other girls of her age," Mr Hendon said.

The woman said she told her mother what was happening to her and was taken to the doctor but left in the waiting room while her mother spoke to him.

She said the abuse stopped when she was almost 12 years of age.

When she was about 22, she told a female friend what Hazel had done, the court heard.

Hazel, who was arrested and questioned by the police in October, 2013, said he had never touched the girl inappropriately.

Cross-examined by Robin Frieze, barrister for Hazel, the woman denied she had made up the allegations to get the defendant into trouble.

"I just want him to be accountable for his actions," she said.

She told the jury she had suffered anxiety and mental health problems and had seen several counsellors over the years.

The woman also denied telling a psychotherapist in 2012 that Hazel had repeatedly raped her when she was a small child.

The trial continues.