A West Sussex fisherman took a group of teenagers on a camping trip and raped one of them at knifepoint, a court heard.

John Anslow, 42, of Glen Crescent, Selsey, allegedly got his young victim drunk before leading her away from the seaside camp and sexually attacking her.

He held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone, Chichester Crown Court heard.

Anslow claimed the girl had made up the allegations because he had spurned her advances.

He claims he was the "unwitting victim," the court heard.

But Gillian Etherton, prosecuting, said she would be calling another girl to give evidence in the trial who had made an almost identical complaint against him in 1996.

Anslow denies one charge of rape, two charges of indecent assault, possession of an offensive weapon and making threats to kill.

The jury heard how the girl and three school friends went on a camping and fishing trip with Anslow, whom she had never before met, on September 7 last year.

Miss Etherton said the group set up camp on a stretch of beach near to West Sands Caravan Site, Selsey, and began drinking bottles of Budweiser, vodka and cider bought by Anslow.

Miss Etherton said the girl had drunk only a small amount of beer but Anslow boasted to the others he planned to spike her drink to get her to strip.

The group split up just before midnight when two of the boys went to play arcade games and the third boy fell asleep, leaving Anslow and his alleged victim alone.

Miss Etherton told the court the girl was about to join the boy in the tent when the defendant took out a knife.

She said: "He then proceeded to hold the knife against her and told her if she screamed he would slit her throat."

He led her to a field where he attacked her, Miss Etherton said.

After the assault he demanded she give him "one good reason" why he should let her live and told her to act normally or he would kill her, she said.

Anslow admits having sex with the girl, but claims it was consensual and that the girl, whom he thought to be 16 or 17, had initiated it.

He also claims the girl told him she loved him and that he had spurned her.

But Miss Etherton told the jury she would be calling a witness who would allege that she had also been raped by Anslow in 1996, when she was 14.

She said: "The defendant would have you believe he is nothing more than the unlucky victim of a wicked lie from a wicked teenage girl.

"If that were true the prosecution would say John Anslow would be a very unfortunate man indeed, because you will hear this is not the first time such an allegation has been made against him."

Miss Etherton told the jury Anslow had lured his first victim six years ago on to a friend's boat in Wales by threatening to kill her.

"He reached for his knife, held it up to her face and said 'If you do anything I'll slice you once. If you scream I'll slice you twice, like I do with my bait.' That was enough to silence her."

When questioned by police over this offence he again told them she had initiated sex and consented to it, the court was told.

Again, he told police he had spurned her declarations of love.

Miss Etherton said: "The purpose of the Crown calling her is not so you can try the defendant for her rape - it's so that you can properly ask yourself a series of questions.

"Having heard the defendant's explanation of what happened between himself and the victim, is it likely that lightning could strike twice?

"Is it likely two girls could come out with the same tale about the man, having never met?

"Does the fact that the two girls have come out, without collusion, and given such similar stories, give some credibility to both their accounts of what happened?"

The victim and her teenage companions are expected to give evidence and be cross-examined via a video link.

The trial continues.