Court told of girl's taxi rape

A SCHOOLGIRL who ran away from home to seek out her pop idol, Brian Harvey, was repeatedly raped by a taxi driver she trusted, an Old Bailey court heard today.

After her alleged ordeal, she still went to the East 17 singer's home, rang his doorbell and shouted that she was cold and wanted some blankets, but he told her to clear off, the court heard. The 13-year-old left her home in the Southampton area on 23 March last year.

"She found herself at Charing Cross. She was hungry and broke. A taxi driver asked if she was alone and agreed to give her a lift. She thought she could trust him - a driver in a black cab," said Sasha Wass, prosecuting. "She was wrong. She spent several hours in the cab, during which he raped her three times and buggered her once," Miss Wass alleged.

Peter Goddard, 40, from Benfleet, Essex has denied raping the teenager.

The teenager, now 15, said that after picking her up at Charing Cross, the defendant bought her something to eat, then stopped the car, got in the back and allegedly raped her.

"The doors were locked," she said. "He pulled my tights off and pushed me down on the back seat. He pulled my skirt up and started to have sex with me." The girl said she then caught a train to Loughton where Harvey lived.

"When I got there I started ringing on the doorbell. He stuck his head out of the window and asked me what I wanted. I said I was cold and could I have some blankets. He said he didn't have any and a security man came and told me to go. So I did." The case was adjourned until today.