A RIDING instructor who is accused of trying to snatch a young girl off the street is to face trial by judge and jury next month.

Alexander Benfield, 24, is charged with the attempted kidnap of a nine-year-old in Ashton Keynes and actual bodily harm in July.

Judge Tim Mousley QC, sitting at Swindon Crown Court, put the case off for a trial on Monday, October 2, and remanded Benfield in custody until then.

No charges have formally been put to the defendant, who was not present for the hearing due to a problem with video link to prison, and he has yet to enter any pleas.

Benfield, of Lawrence Road, Cirencester, is said to have tried to grab the child in the Park Place area of the village on Saturday July 8.

Gareth James, defending, indicated that his client would be denying the allegations.

He did not seek bail for his client and the judge remanded Benfield in custody until the trial.

The young girl was with two other children when they were going to the village shop, running an errand for her mother.

It is alleged she was grabbed by a man, though she managed to get away but not before her knees were scraped when, it is said, she was dragged along by him.