A 20-year-old university student this week bravely spoke of her terror when, late at night, she was grabbed around the neck from behind and pushed and dragged down an alleyway in Helston by a man who said he wanted to touch her.

The horrifying recollection was given to Truro Crown Court when Adrian Austin, aged 49, appeared on charges of kidnapping. He pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutor David Evans told the jury of ten women and two men that the young woman, Annika Burleigh, had a summer vacation job at Treliske Hospital, Truro.

She caught a bus to Helston, arriving at about 11pm on August 11, and, after making some purchases in Tesco, was walking to her mother's home when she was forced into an alleyway on the Water-ma-Trout industrial estate. Austin must have noticed her in the store because on leaving, instead of turning towards his lodgings in Penberthy Road, Helston, he followed her in the opposite direction.

She was about to telephone her mother to advise her she was a little late when she was grabbed from behind around the side of her neck, exerting pressure on her throat.

"Forcefully he pushed, dragged, bundled her off the road beside the industrial unit occupied by Plumb Crazy, into a darker area away from motorists and pedestrians, a dead end," said Mr Evans.

"He told her that if she resisted she would be hurt. He said he was going to touch her, with her consent and to turn and face the wall with l Continued from front page

her back to him. The prosecution say a sexual motive was evident."

Courageously the young woman said "no". Eventually Austin sat her by some steps, still holding her, and despite her fear she managed to talk to him to try to calm him down. At one stage a milkman saw them and, in an effort to make it look as though they were a courting couple, Austin forced her to walk out of the alleyway, warning her that if she raised the alarm she would be really hurt.

The woman was knocked to the ground but she lashed out and managed to run into the road and flag down a passing couple.

When arrested Austin, who had scratches on his back, neck and chest, claimed he had just been looking for someone to talk to as he was depressed.

Austin was interviewed three times. Initially he said he would stand in an identification parade, he then said he had been present but had done nothing wrong and finally said he had gone to Tesco feeling as depressed as ever and wanted someone to talk to.

He had seen the young woman, followed her up the road and said he wanted to talk to her but had done nothing else. She had been free to leave at any time. He also said he had let himself down in the way he had behaved that evening.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, the softly-spoken young woman said she was about five minutes from home when she was grabbed. "He was shouting and I was very frightened," she said.

Austin told her to face the wall, that if she didn't he would hurt her and that he was going to touch her with her permission.

"I said 'No' and refused to turn around. I sat on some steps and he had his arm around my shoulder, holding me to him."

The young woman said that she had some conversation with Austin in an attempt to calm him down. At one point he said: "You are a nice girl, I should not be doing this." When a light went on in one of the buildings he went towards the door and she began walking backwards. Austin noticed and said angrily: "This time you will do what I tell you."

"He grabbed me, squeezing me up against him. I flung myself backwards, landing on the floor, and he fell on top of me. There was a fight, he tried to get me up and I tried to push him away. I scratched him on the neck and kicked out at his groin, hoping it would hurt more. I ran, there was a car coming and I flagged it down, got in and was driven home."

The young woman added that her ordeal lasted an hour or hour-and-a-half.

She denied suggestions by defence counsel Iain Leadbetter that Austin had approached her, said "good evening" and that she had agreed to have a chat with him. "No, I was frightened, petrified of him," she said.

Mr Evans read statements from Damien and Jennifer Oldfield, who stopped and took the woman to her home, in which they said she had been "distressed, very frightened and shocked."

Yesterday Austin told the jury that he had not dragged the young woman down the path beside the industrial unit, had said nothing threatening or nasty to her and had not kept her there against her will.

"I did not intend any harm to her, or any criminal act whatsoever," he said, adding that there would have been plenty of time for him to have done so had he wanted.

Austin said he had spent that afternoon in the Rodney Inn where he had four or five pints before going back to his flat. At about 7pm he went to the Blue Anchor and then back to the Rodney until 10.50pm when he went to Tesco to get some cigarettes.

Austin said that in conversation with the woman she revealed her father had died of cancer, as had his mother. "She looked rather sad and I did feel she needed some comfort. I asked if she minded if I put my arm around her and she was content."

After seeing the milkman the young woman talked about her previous boyfriend and "seemed fired up". She got up and walked around, and when he put his hand onto her upper arm she said "Get out of here" and started kicking him.

"I asked why she was kicking me and moved forward. She lost her balance and fell over and I fell on top of her, but not with my full weight. I allowed her to get up and as she did so she scratched me by my ear and then ran off."

The trial continues.