THE first of four men said to have raped a 16-year-old girl after they picked her up in a car claimed to a jury he didn’t do it and she had lied.

Mohammed Sikander, 25, alleged the teenager had told him he was cute, put her hands all over his body and started to perform a sex act on him.

Sikander said he had been under the influence of cannabis and cocaine and claimed he told the girl it wasn't going to happen.

Sikander, questioned by his barrister, Rosalind Emsley-Smith, told Burnley Crown Court: “In our community, it's bad being named a rapist and obviously we didn't do it. I didn't do it.”

Sikander is in the dock together with Mohammed Qasim, 25, Amad Khan, 26 and Haiyat Khan, 30. He was the first of the defendants to go into the witness box and give evidence during their trial. The Crown has claimed the alleged victim, who was vulnerable, had thought the men were going to help her when she found herself alone in a Burnley street at 1am after a row with her boyfriend.

Prosecutor Joe Boyd has alleged that instead, the men plied her with vodka and drove her to Manchester.

Sikander and the Khans are said to have forced the girl to perform a sex act on them on the journey and Qasim, who was the driver, is alleged to have done the same after they got back to Burnley and he dropped off his three co-defendants.

Qasim, of Berry Street, Brierfield, Amad Khan, of Whalley Street, Sikander, of Colne Road, and Haiyat Khan, of Thursby Square, all Burnley, each deny one allegation of rape, said to have taken place last September 29. Qasim also now faces an alternative charge of sexual assault.

Sikander told the jury he lived with his grandmother who was ‘proper old school’ and didn't agree with him talking to girls.

He said he and the others shouldn't have picked up the girl and knew it was a big mistake now, but they did. The defendant claimed she asked to get in the car.

He told the court the girl took his mobile phone off him, put her home phone number in it, gave it him back and he had saved it.

Asked by Miss Emsley-Smith about the girl at the point he got out of the vehicle, Sikander replied: “She still seemed happy. She was saying, ‘Don't forget me. Stay in contact. I gave you my numbers. Use them. Use them’.”

(Proceeding)