A WOMAN hid in a car footwell to avoid a Bridport man who she accused of allegedly sexually abusing her when she was a child, a court heard.

Keith Bloomfield has gone on trial at Bournemouth Crown Court for alleged historic underage sex offences dating back to the 1980s.

Bloomfield, aged 64, of Normandy Way, allegedly started a sexual relationship with the then 14-year-old after he took her to a pub beer garden one day after picking her up in his car and asked to kiss her, Bournemouth Crown Court heard. The complainant is now 50.

Bloomfield is accused of multiple sexual offences involving the underage girl in West Dorset between September 26, 1985 and May 11, 1987, which he denies.

Prosecutor Gordon Ross said that the six indictments Bloomfield is charged with happened when the woman, who cannot be named due to legal reasons, was around 14-and-a-half or 15 years of age.

Mr Ross said: "It's difficult for her to be precise about when these events happened."

But he said that she is in 'no doubt' that they did happen.

He said that in a police interview the complainant said that Bloomfield was involved with a youth club in West Dorset which the complainant was a member of.

Giving evidence yesterday, a friend of the alleged victim, said: "I met her in September 1988 in a disco when I was 21.

"She was living in Bridport at that time.

"In 1989 we both took part in a fundraising event - and we became close friends.

"In the summer of 1990 we were driving around Bridport when she spotted Keith's car and she ducked down into the footwell.

"I asked what was wrong and she said he had taken advantage of her when she was underage - she was petrified of him. I did assist her in relocating and take her away from the situation.

"I was devastated and horrified but I didn’t report it. She asked me to keep it to myself. But I have expressed my regret not reporting it and acting 30 years ago."

The mother of the alleged victim told the jury: "[She] did not have a father figure growing up. She was shy but enjoyed charity work.

"She wanted to get out of Bridport. I knew she was unhappy, but I didn’t know why. She said she needed protection. She didn’t tell me anything about Bloomfield until around 2018."

The complainant claimed Bloomfield would take her back to his house where he would perform sexual acts.

The alleged victim said Bloomfield moved house with his girlfriend at the time where he continued the abuse and started to show her hardcore pornography, by which time the complainant was thought to be aged over 16.

The court heard that she moved county but that he visited her new address and that she was 'so taken aback' that she asked a boy she was friends with to pretend to be her boyfriend and stay the night whilst Bloomfield was around for protection.

She said this was the last time she saw Bloomfield.

The older sister of the alleged victim, told the court: "She moved out of Bridport to get away from a man who followed her."

The girl told the court Bloomfield would watch porn videos with her and he 'would lie on her' and perform a sex act.

She said he would perform the sexual acts whilst his girlfriend was away at work and that his partner had no idea about what he was doing.

The alleged victim reported the alleged sex offences against Bloomfield in 2017. When asked why she reported the alleged abuse over thirty years later she said she was doing a safeguarding course for work and found herself getting emotional.

She said: "It just sparked something in me emotionally.

"I just want closure."

The trial continues.