A 22-year-old man has appeared in court accused of repeatedly raping a child when she was aged between six and eight.

Today, the first day of the trial, John Liddiard, of Buttermere, Liden, stood before a jury of seven women and five men at Swindon Crown Court and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

It is alleged that between January 2007 and August 2009, Liddiard raped the girl on at least ten separate occasions.

In outlining the case for the jury, prosecutor Tessa Hingston described how Liddiard, then aged between 15 and 17, allegedly sexually assaulted the child.

He is then accused of raping her.

The victim appeared in court via a video link and the jury was shown a recording of her giving evidence to police in the summer of last year – the first time she had spoken openly about the alleged attacks.

She said the main reason she decided to come forward was to protect other children and she said that speaking about it “feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders”.

Speaking about the alleged attack, she said: “He told me to sit down [on the bed] and he started complimenting me on my breast size.

“I felt like that was nice of him to compliment me but afterwards I realised it wasn’t right, it felt a bit weird after a while."

Midway through the video, the judge, Recorder Michael Vere-Hodge QC, ordered it be stopped as the victim was reported to be “in some distress”.

After a brief respite, the jury heard the victim described Liddiard as having robbed her virginity, and said: “I would tell him to stop because I didn’t like it and sometimes I would cry because it hurt and he held me in place.

“Sometimes he would get angry, suddenly stop and say ‘Get dressed and get out’. I didn’t know what happened, he would just turn.”

She described each alleged attack as lasting around five or 10 minutes and that afterwards he would threaten her, saying that if she told anybody no one would believe her and she would be unwanted.

In 2010, Liddiard pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two girls and today the court heard the alleged victim describe his punishment as merely a “slap on the wrist”.

Liddiard is defended by Alex Daymond and the case is expected to last for several days.

He is currently on bail and the case is due to continue at Swindon Crown Court tomorrow.