A man has gone on trial accused of inappropriately touching a seven-year-old at a wedding reception.

Rahul Patel, 42, of Oxhey Lane, Pinner, stands charged with two counts of sexual assault on a girl under 13.

Both incidents are alleged to have occurred within around five minutes of each-other at a wedding reception at a Slough hotel.

Opening the case today (March 13), prosecuting barrister Matthew Knight said the defendant and the complainant were not known to each-other, and had been attending the wedding with their families.

He claimed Patel appeared to take an interest in the girl on the evening in question.

Mr Patel said: "It seems Mr Patel certainly noticed them. Mr Patel is then seen hanging around near to the girl's family's table."

The prosecution claims that Patel approached the girl near the dancefloor and touched her around her skirt, and between her legs.

She reported the incident to her family immediately afterwards, leading her father to challenge Patel.

He denied touching the girl at the time - and has pleaded not guilty to both charges against him.

The attacks are alleged to have occurred late in the day, just as the girl and her family were leaving the reception.

Jurors in the case were shown footage of an interview with the complainant conducted by specially-trained investigators.

She gave an account of the incident, stating: "He did it twice. He put his hand on my legs, not inside. He lifted up my skirt, he did it twice, and he did at the end, once - I don't know how he knew we were going.

"I don't know him. He's a stranger. I think, because we were near the door, he knew we were going. And then he just did it twice."

The trial continues.