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An Afghan national accused of "targeting" and twice raping a 12 year old girl informed police he thought she may have been in her early 20s, a jury has heard.

Ahmad Mulakhil also told officers a charge of oral rape of the girl he has admitted was his first sexual encounter and had not involved the use of force or any threats.

Transcripts of police interviews with the 23 year old were read to the second week of a trial at Warwick Crown Court on Monday.

Prosecutors claim the 12 year old was abducted, raped and sexually assaulted by Mulakhil and strangled by his friend Mohammad Kabir, who allegedly intended to take her away for a sexual purpose.

The girl, who cannot be identified, claims that Mulakhil laughed and ignored her requests to stop as he attacked her on a grassed area in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, on 22 July last year.

It is claimed Mulakhil attacked the girl after 24 year old Kabir, also originally from Afghanistan, had chatted to her on a canal bridge and grabbed her around the neck.

Mulakhil, assisted by an interpreter, told police in two interviews conducted on 26 July last year that kissing and sexual activity between him and the victim "was her desire that she wanted."

The defendant, whose responses to questions from police were read to jurors by Crown barrister Daniel Oscroft, told officers: "Because of the language barrier we couldn't understand each other that much."

Asserting the girl had "insisted", Mulakhil informed the officers: "I did not have experience in the past with a girl.

"She was agreed, I was agreed too. She was insisting and she was following me. She wasn't scared.

"She was following me with her own consent."

The court was told Mulakhil stated to police the girl had told his friend she was 19, and was subsequently questioned by a police officer about how old she had appeared to him.

Mulakhil replied: "It could be 23-24 yeah. I didn't focus that much."

He also informed police that he thought the age of consent was 19-20 and that the girl "was a bit older" and could have departed if she wished to.

When questioned if he grasped that someone aged 12 cannot lawfully consent to sex, the court was told Mulakhil responded: "It's understandable - no one will have sex with a 12-year-old."

Mulakhil, of no fixed abode, denies child abduction, two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and taking indecent photographs of a child.

Kabir, also of no fixed address, denies intentional strangulation, committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence and attempting to take a child.

The trial resumes on Tuesday.