An alleged child rapist has declared his "100%" denial of claims he repeatedly abused an Ipswich schoolgirl.

Shane Moore took the stand to give evidence in his trial at Ipswich Crown Court on Wednesday.

Moore told a jury of eight women and four men that he had never touched the girl in a sexual way or been violent towards her.

The 36-year-old is alleged to have raped a schoolgirl more than 20 times, and forced her to pose for naked pictures, more than a decade ago.

Asked by defence barrister Lynne Shirley if he had committed the offences, Moore replied: "100% no."

The girl, who was aged between seven and 11, was allegedly dragged by her hair or carried upstairs to a bedroom by Moore, who then undressed her before forcing himself on her.

Moore allegedly ignored the girl’s protests and forced her to pose for naked photographs.

Earlier in the trial, prosecutor Joanne Eley said the girl alleged she had been raped by Moore between 20 and 30 times.

Miss Eley claimed that, when the girl was aged nine or 10, her father had, to his "absolute horror”, found naked pictures of his daughter on a computer.

At the time, he thought Moore had done nothing more than take naked pictures of his daughter and had been persuaded not to report the matter to the police, the court heard.

The girl’s father had purportedly stored the images on a disc but had been unable to relocate it, said Miss Eley.

Moore said he recalled the girl’s father confronting him with a disc, but claimed that the disc was empty of data when he inserted it into a computer.

Moore, who was living in Braintree at the time of the alleged offences, said he was "extremely upset" to have been accused of taking the photos.

He has denied two offences of a rape of a child under 13, rape, indecent assault, indecency with a child and sexual activity with a child.

The offences are alleged to have been committed when Moore was in his late teens or early twenties.

The court heard that the alleged offences came to light in 2018, when the girl told a counsellor she had been sexually abused and Moore was subsequently arrested at his address in Constance Street, Nottingham.

Moore is due to be cross-examined on Thursday.