The owner of a seafront amusement arcade told a jury how he raised the alarm when he saw a man befriend a ten-year-old boy.

Joseph Gess, who runs the Monarch arcade, in Waterloo Square, Bognor, told Lewes Crown Court he was suspicious and decided to contact the child's family when he saw the boy and the man walk out of the arcade together.

The child was found more than eight hours later. He told police the man had threatened to kill him before sexually assaulting him in a remote area near Barnham.

Anthony Valentine, 46, of Boltro Road, Haywards Heath, is accused of kidnapping the child, two offences of child abduction, two offences of indecent assault plus an offence of indecency with a child.

He denies all charges.

Mr Gess, who knew the boy, said he saw him and the man at a games machine on the evening of July 11 last year.

The man reported a fault with a machine. When Mr Gess unblocked it some sweets fell out.

Mr Gess said he handed the sweets to the man. He said: "He turned to give them to the boy who said, 'No, I don't take sweets.'

Later he looked at the arcade's CCTV monitor and noticed the boy and the man walking away from the arcade together.

Mr Gess said he believed the man may have been a family friend but he contacted the family and the police were called.

The prosecution alleges Valentine promised to buy the boy a birthday present and gave him sweets with the intention of luring him to a place where he could sexually abuse him.

They later caught a train to Barnham and then walked almost four miles into the countryside where the boy alleges he was sexually assaulted in an isolated copse.

The boy said they walked back to the station where Valentine gave him £20 and told him to get a taxi.

It was 3am when the taxi driver, who was aware of a major police search for the boy, alerted the police.

The trial continues.