Ex-mayor Barry Dodson on trial over "sex assault on 13-year-old girl"

The former independent borough councillor (pictured), who quit the Labour party last year, appeared at Sheffield Crown Court today and pleaded not guilty to the offence, which is alleged to have taken place in 1987.

Dodson, of Cranworth Road, Rotherham, was arrested just three weeks after he took on the role of Rotherham’s first citizen in May 2014.

During the first day of the trial, the court heard Cllr Dodson assaulted his victim at Rotherham’s Boston Castle beauty spot.

The trial continues.