A PASSER-BY has told how a teenage girl collapsed in her arms after being stabbed in an alleged early morning sex attack.

Denise Laurent came across the 17-year-old who was trying to struggle to her feet in Priory Gardens, Orpington, on September 30 last year.

Mrs Laurent had spotted what she thought was a robbery taking place as she made her way to work, a jury at the Old Bailey heard today.

She gave chase as the man fled with a handbag, trying to call police on her mobile phone.

But when she failed to catch him, she returned to the park to discover the bloodied victim and realised she had been stabbed in the stomach and neck.

The prosecution say the attacker was Peter Anscombe, 28, a loner with a "sinister interest" in sexual violence.

Wiping tears from her eyes, Mrs Laurent said: "She staggered out the gate and I could see that she was bleeding.

"She said: 'Help me, can somebody help me'. At this point I was on the phone to the police.

"I said 'Oh god she's been stabbed'.

"She's fallen and I've caught her in my arms."

Mrs Laurent had been walking through the park to get to work when she heard a muffled scream and spotted the pair on the floor.

She said: "I could see there were two people. There was a person on the floor and someone over them but it wasn't clear what was going on.

"I stood there for 10 seconds or so to try and see what was going on.

"I said 'what's going on over there, is everything ok?'

"I moved forward slightly and he said 'everything is ok, we're ok, she's ok'.

"He seemed at that point very agitated in his body movements. That's when I got the feeling that things weren't as they should be."

The attacker ran with his victim's handbag tucked under his arm, leaving the girl on the floor, the court was told.

Mrs Laurent said: "In my mind I wanted to stop him and get her bag back. I was the only person there and I needed to get help."

She said the man was "awkward" and "jerky" and seemed "simple" when he spoke, but she did not get a good look at his face.

She said: "It was difficult to explain, but he was quite awkward in his movements and the impression I got was that he was maybe a little bit simple.

"He wasn't an athletic sort of person. His running was quite cumbersome."

Mrs Laurent was unable to pick out Anscombe in a video ID parade.

Anscombe is also accused of assaulting a 39-year-old housewife in a multi-storey car park next to the Glades Shopping Centre in Bromley four days earlier.

He is accused of knocking her to the ground and running off when a passer-by disturbed him.

The lead-up and aftermath of the alleged attack was caught on the car park CCTV cameras.

Anscombe, of Sevenoaks Way, Orpington, denies assault with intent to commit a sexual offence, attempted murder, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, sexual assault and attempted rape.

The trial continues.