A Lowestoft man accused of sexually assaulting two girls more than 20 years ago has denied the allegations.

Giving evidence during his trial at Ipswich Crown Court on Monday, Garry Caswell, who served in the Navy for eight years, said he didn’t know why the two complainants had made the allegations against him.

He said all he could think of was that he’d had a disagreement with one of them over a car he sold her and had fallen out with the other one when she refused to pay the agreed price for some furniture.

Caswell, 43, of Park Road, Lowestoft, has denied ten offences of indecent assault and two of indecency with a child in respect of one alleged victim and offences of rape, indecent assault and indecency with a child in respect of another alleged victim.

The offences date back to the mid-1990s.

Peter Clark, prosecuting, claimed Caswell had raped one of the alleged victims when she was ten.

The other alleged victim said Caswell, who was about a decade older than her, would gesture for her to get into bed with him.

The trial continues.