A man accused of trying to strangle a teenage girl with a piece of rope has gone on trial.

Father-of-three Darren Ford denies attempted murder and an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court heard today that his victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was left with her eyes bulging, her face blue and pinpoint bleeding in the whites of her eyes.

It is alleged Ford, 43, of Oaks Dene, Walderslade, held the rope with both his hands during the attack in June last year.

Prosecutor Richard Scott said the Royal Mail and Asda worker had a "clear and settled intention" to kill at the time, but that as that intention passed he then "constructed a false account of events".

Mr Scott added that Ford's defence is likely to be that he intended to kill himself but then "transposed" his intention onto the girl.

"The defence are likely to assert that he effectively split off from his own awareness of what was going on and was enacting his own suicide with the girl in place of himself," he explained.

The jury was told that this is described by psychologists and psychiatrists as "disassociation".

"The defendant does not dispute that he strangled her but he denies that he did it of his own free will," added the prosecutor.

The court heard the girl spent two days in hospital recovering.

Her recollection of the attack was at first said to be "blurry", but she later told police how she was kicking her legs as she felt the rope around her neck.

The trial continues.