A MAN aged 64 is on trial at Bradford Crown Court accused of raping a 13-year-old schoolgirl and offering her mother £15,000 to leave the country.

Tariq Syed violated the screaming child after locking her in his car in a wooded area, the jury was told yesterday.

When the police were alerted, he tried to bribe and intimidate her family into returning to their native Romania, prosecutor Sharon Beattie said yesterday.

Syed, of Pemberton Drive, Little Horton, Bradford, pleads not guilty to rape, an alternative charge of sexual activity with a child, perverting the course of justice and causing the girl’s mother actual bodily harm by attacking her with a knife.

Miss Beattie told the jury that Syed’s semen was found on the inside of the girl’s school trousers after the alleged rape was reported to the police.

The court heard that Syed befriended the girl’s family and gave her two phones, clothes and a computer tablet.

Her mother became suspicious but Syed told her he wanted to help as the family were not well off.

In September 2014, she discovered that her daughter had been missing from school twice in a week.

The woman confronted the child, telling her she knew “The Old Man,” as they called Syed, had collected her from school.

The police were informed when the girl revealed that Syed had forced her to have sex with him.

She told police he drove her to wooded area, locked the car doors and raped her.

“She was screaming but he said if she did not let him do it, he would kill her and bury her there,” Miss Beattie said.

He also threatened to burn down her family’s home, the court heard.

Syed told the police the girl’s mother “would do anything for money”.

“He expressed nothing but contempt for the girl’s family and said they could not be trusted,” Miss Beattie said.

He said the girl was young enough to be his granddaughter and he blamed her mother for “putting her up” to inventing the rape allegation.

He explained that he gave the girl the trousers and his semen was already on them because they had previously belonged to his wife.

It is alleged that, three days after his arrest, Syed went to the takeaway where the girl’s mother worked and accused her daughter of lying.

He swore at the woman and offered her £15,000 to go back to Romania, the jury heard.

She told him: “Are you not afraid of God because you dishonoured my child?”

The mother says Syed threatened: “I will kill you,” and attacked her with a blunt knife, leaving her with injuries, including scratching to her neck.

He claims she went for him with a knife and scissors.

“The defendant denies any sexual activity took place and he denies the allegations from her mother, saying he was the victim of an attack by her,” Mrs Beattie said.

The jury was today hearing evidence from the girl, who will be cross-examined on a video link to Romania, where she is now living.

The trial continues.