A retired police officer accused of repeatedly molesting a young girl 50 years ago has blamed his arrest on the Jimmy Savile paedophile scandal.

James Miller, 85, of Marks Avenue in Ongar, appeared at the Old Bailey accused of abusing a four-year-old girl.

He allegedly abused the girl through groping and touching 13 times between 1966 and 1968.

Miller was charged in August last year with two counts of indecently assaulting a child and two counts of indecency with a child.

He denies the four offences and has continued to protest his innocence.

The former Sergeant, who suffers from early stage dementia, is known to the girl as 'Uncle Jim' and was reportedly having an affair with her mother, who was a civilian police worker.

Initially she enjoyed his visits to her home as her mother was angry and mistreated her, but she appeared happy when Miller was around, the court heard.

But he is accused of using his position of trust to abuse the girl at a flat attached to Bishopsgate Police Station, in central London.

The 85-year-old has argued that the victim had been prompted by the Jimmy Savile scandal to make a false claim against him to make some money.

The girl, who is now 52, last saw Miller at the Lord Mayor's Parade in 1979, where they exchanged angry words, but she did not confront him about the alleged abuse.

The court heard that she was left emotionally scarred by the attacks and revealed the abuse first to her family and then to a GP in 1989.

The trial continues.