Man accused of raping girl in train toilet 'threatened to kill horses' if she didn't do as he said

Daniel Russell allegedly took the girl, who was under 13 at the time, into a train toilet and raped her after showing her a pornographic video, Norwich Crown Court heard

A man accused of raping a young girl in a train toilet said he would kill baby horses if she didn't comply with his demands, a court has heard.

Daniel Russell, 38, has been accused of two counts of rape against the girl, who was aged under 13 at the time, and cannot be named for legal reasons. Norwich Crown Court heard on Monday that the alleged offences occurred inside a toilet on various train journeys over the course of more than five years - between November 28 2015, and January 20 2021.

Duncan O'Donnell, prosecuting, said Russell took the girl into the toilet on the train, showed her a pornographic video and raped her. The girl told officers that Russell also threatened to kill the foals of a horse she had seen at an animal sanctuary if she failed to follow his instructions.

The prosecutor added that the girl described Russell as a "stinky bum bum head" in a police interview, adding he was "threatening" her on a number of occasions.

Mr O'Donnell said she told police that Russell "made me do it and was threatening me" during the train journeys between Norwich, Norfolk and Ely in Cambridgeshire.

He added the trial will hear that the girl said Russell was "always doing it in the bathroom on the train" and did it "a lot more than lots". He added that Russell, for his own sexual gratification, "assaulted her sexually and showed her indecent videos" while on the train.

A jury of eight women and four men heard how the 38-year-old was previously arrested in January 2021 after officers became aware of indecent images on an iPad belonging to him. Following his arrest, police spoke to others, including the mother of the girl who had contacted the authorities after her daughter described how Russell had made her do troubling things.

Daniel Russell, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, denied two counts of rape of a child under 13. He also pleaded not guilty to causing a child to watch a sexual act and making indecent images of children.

The trial continues.