A schoolgirl was sexually assaulted at a Watford bus stop by a man who had offered her £200 to do modelling work, a jury was told.

The 14-year-old girl was stepping onto a bus in the High Street to go to school when she was molested by a man who told her: "I will see you later darling."

St Albans crown court heard on Wednesday that the girl was walking through Meeting Alley with her younger sister when she was first approached by Abbots Langley man Dorian Hirst.

The girl, who is now 15, said: "I saw this man coming towards us. He was walking funny. I presumed he had been drinking. I tried to avoid him and move aside."

But she said he approached her sister and asked if she did history at school. When she intervened she said he asked her: "Can I talk to you? Can I get you to do some lingerie modelling for me?”

Giving evidence behind a screen the girl said: "I said 'No, I am too young. I have to go to school.' He asked to meet me on the Thursday and said: 'I will give you £200 to model for me’."

The girl said she refused and he then tried to get her to go around a corner with him. She told the jury: "I said: 'No, I have got to get my bus'. He said: 'Fair enough' and walked away. I was a bit scared and a bit nervous."

She said she and her sister went to the bus stop outside Greggs bakery in the High Street. On the way she rang her mother to let her know what happened.

The girl said she turned round and saw the man again. He approached one of her friends and asked her for a cigarette before speaking to her again and asking for a lighter.

Then, as she was at the back of the queue, he came up behind her.

As she got onto the bus she said he whispered: "I will see you later darling” in her ear.

Then, she said, she felt a hand push up her skirt and touch her bottom.

Prosecutor Jan Hayne said the girl called her mother, who rang the police.

Officers examined CCTV footage from Watford town centre and later that morning Hirst was arrested near the YMCA.

When questioned Hirst told officers it was a case of mistaken identity and that he had not been out that morning.

Hirst, 39, of Spur Close, Abbots Langley, pleaded not guilty to sexual assault on December 9 last year.

The trial continues.