A 72-year-old man appeared in Court yesterday charged with kidnapping and raping a terrified teenager who was on his way home from school.

The boy, who was 14 at the time and cannot be identified for legal reasons, told Bradford Crown Court he thought he was going to be killed and was driven to a suicide attempt by the alleged incident.

Richard Newbury, prosecuting, said Raymond Paxton grabbed the boy at Bradford Interchange, took him to his house at Brunel Gardens, Little Horton, Bradford and raped him in February, 2003.

He said Paxton was a "persistent visitor" to the Interchange and had frequently been thrown out by staff.

He said as the boy was approaching an escalator Paxton grabbed him and said "come with me".

"He took him outside and pushed him into a nearby car ordering him to shut up. The boy was stunned and terrified," Mr Newbury said.

The court was told Paxton then drove him to his house where he raped him and then dropped him off up the road afterwards.

Paxton denies rape and kidnap.

The jury were shown a taped interview the teenager gave to police in which he described how he had attempted to take his own life when he saw Paxton wink as he drove past him some 18 months later.

The boy wept as he told the interviewing officer what had happened.

"At first I thought I was dead. I literally thought that he was going to kill me," the youngster said.

"I honestly did think he was going to kill me once he had finished with me. I thought this is it. You hear about people getting abducted and killed and I just thought this was me."

The court was told the boy had seen Paxton a number of times since the alleged incident and said that he eventually told his father what had happened in September, 2004, because "it was eating me alive".

Paxton was arrested when the boy took police to the house where he said the rape happened. He gave a description of the inside which matched photographs the police took and he picked out Paxton on an identity parade.

When interviewed, Paxton admitted he did go to the Interchange as a meeting place for homosexuals.

He said he was a homosexual and that he had picked up rent boys in the past but totally denied the alleged incident. He told police when he was interviewed that he had never met the complainant before.

The trial continues.