A SOLDIER from Darwen who was due to go to Afghanistan allegedly raped a teenage girl, a jury was told.

Bruce Bernon, 29, was based down south, but was visiting the East Lancashire town last April when the incident allegedly took place.

And the jury was told that when the victim was interviewed by specialist detectives, she claimed that Bernon had indecently assaulted her before.

Bernon, of Darwen, denies rape, attempted rape, sexual assault by penetration and two counts of sexual activity with a child relating to the incident in the early hours of April 3, 2010.

He also denies two charges of indecent assault and two further counts of assaulting a child under the age of 13 by penetration.

At the start of a week-long trial at Preston Crown Court, the jury were played a video of the girl’s interview, filmed a day after the alleged rape.

The girl told the court that the alleged attack by Bernon, a father-of-three, who is based at army barracks in Hullavington, Chippenham, Wiltshire, had left her feeling ‘sick and scared’.

Police were contacted and during her examination, a doctor found evidence of a fresh abrasion, tenderness and inflammation which was ‘consistent with her account’.

Bernon was arrested on April 4 and was interviewed.

Bernon said that he denied the allegations.

He also claimed that the last thing he could remember of that evening was that he had been outside a nightclub in Blackburn, before waking up on the settee.

Bernon, who has been on conditional bail, had been due to go on a tour to Afghanistan with his regiment, but a judge at a previous hearing refused to allow the trial to be put back.

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