A Salvation Army minister prayed for forgiveness from God after he was confronted about raping a schoolgirl, a court heard.

The girl, 13 at the time, had confessed to her best friend that she had sex with Stephen Wilkes.

The friends later went together to his home in Crawley and told him it had to stop, Hove Crown Court was told today.

The friend, now 30, said the girl coyly revealed during a "girlie conversation" she and the minister had had sex.

She said: "We had one of those girlie conversations about if either of us had lost our virginity and she said she had. She was reluctant to say more but in further conversations she said it was the Rev.

"I thought it was revolting and told her it had to stop. She agreed but said she did not know how to."

She told the court her friend took a while to pluck up the courage before they went together to confront Wilkes.

She said: "I went with her to support her but when we knocked on the door she froze.

"He answered the door and I said that she had told me what was going on and that we had to talk.

"He agreed and ushered us into the house and we went into the living room. There I told him that I knew that he had been having sex with her and that it had to stop.

"I said he was in a position of authority and he was abusing it. He said, 'Yes I know it has to stop'. Those were his exact words.

"I felt that I was doing the right thing and that I was protecting my friend from being abused any more.

"He said he thought that we should offer a prayer up to God to forgive us our sins.

"He bowed his head and clasped his hands in front of him and she did the same. He prayed but I cannot now remember the content of the prayer."

Wilkes, 45, denies rape and two charges of indecent assault on the alleged victim, who now lives outside Sussex.

She told the court she turned to Wilkes for help because of family problems and visited him at his flat in Crawley.

She alleged he was wearing his Salvation Army uniform when he stripped off her school clothes.

Wilkes, now living in North Road, Evesham, Worcester, told police the alleged victim had a crush on him and made up the accusations through jealousy.

The trial continues.