A Pembroke Dock man who raped a young girl persuaded her not to resist by threatening to harm her pet rabbit, a jury heard today.

Stephen Bladen, aged 55, has gone on trial accused of almost 30 sex offences against five different girls.

They include allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Bladen, recently of Sycamore Road and once of School Road, Pembroke Dock, is also accused of possessing indecent images of children stored on two computers.

He denies all the charges against him and his trial is expected to last for the rest of the month.

Robin Rouch, prosecuting, told Swansea crown court that the offending went back to 1985, but some offences were committed as recently as 2011.

One of the girls, he said, had been as young as four when Bladen removed some of her clothing and committed an indecent act upon himself.

Another girl had complained of being raped when she was eight or nine.

“He threatened to harm her pet rabbit if she did not do what he said,” added Mr Rouch.

That girl told police she could remember seeing indecent images of children on a computer.

“Indeed, some were found after his arrest,” said Mr Rouch.

Bladen, a decorator, was arrested in February and police took possession of a computer on which experts could find 30 indecent images of children in a file named “Brian’s little pix.”

In April, police searched the Cardiff home of a man called Brian, a friend of Bladen’s.

They found a laptop computer in the boot of his car which contained 72 indecent images that had been downloaded from the internet only the day before.

Bladen, said Mr Rouch, may have been trying to create a smokescreen as the prosecution could show that the computer belonged to him and not the friend.

Calls had been made on the computer using the Skype system both before and after the images had been downloaded and Bladen had made them, said Mr Rouch.

“He may try and blame Brian. It is a smokescreen. That is the devious length he would go to get out of the charges,” alleged Mr Rouch.

During police interviews Bladen denied touching any of the girls indecently and said someone had tried to frame him by installing indecent images onto his computers.

He told police, “There is a lot of hatred around.”

The trial continues.