A DRUNK teenage girl was raped by a 20-year-old man in the early hours of the morning on a public footpath in Ledbury, a jury has been told.

The 14-year-old girl had drunk half a bottle of vodka before going out into the centre of Ledbury with friends where she met up with others including Ryan Faizey, who had also been drinking, Worcester Crown Court was told.

The girl was sick and Faizey said he would walk her home but instead they went to disused railway tracks known locally as The Lines, Gareth Walters, prosecuting, told the court.

The area is now a public footpath and is dark, narrow and has overhanging trees, Mr Walters said. He told the jury the girl had drunk so much on the night of August 29 last year she was twice the legal driving limit and could not remember the details of the incident. She did remember being on the floor and Faizey having sex with her while she shouted at him to stop.

Faizey has already pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a child, Mr Walters said.

He claims she consented and is on trial after denying two counts of rape. Mr Walters said the girl was so drunk she could not have consented.

The girl had left her friends in the town and they became worried when she did not return home. They searched the area and sent out Facebook messages saying "she missing."

She was seen by two people as she followed Faizey away from The Lines shouting " please don't leave me, I don't know where I am" but he just kept walking, Mr Walters said. The girl then collapsed on the floor and they helped her to get home, Mr Walters said. She told them the boy she was with had taken her down an alley and forced her to have sex, he told the jury.

"She blamed herself for what happened that night," Mr Walters said.

In a video interview shown in court the girl said she just wanted to forget what had happened.

Faizey, now aged 21, of Martins Way, Ledbury, told police he had been out in Hereford and had drunk eight or nine cans of Foster's before returning on the bus, arriving at around midnight and meeting the others.

He said the girl had put her hand down his trousers but he had told her not to because she was only 14. She started kissing him and he still refused because of her age but then he could not help himself, Mr Walters said.

The trial continues.