The trial of an American company boss accused of raping a 12-year-old girl who called him ‘uncle’ in Willesden started at the Old Bailey today.

John Mandeng, 47, is claimed to have followed the girl upstairs to her bedroom and ordered her to undress whilst sexually touching her between January 2005 and December 2006.

The Old Bailey heard he was a ‘father figure’ to the girl who called him ‘uncle’ out of respect.

Prosecutor Gary Venturi told jurors said: “Over time he became more and more tactile with the victim.

“On the day of the incident she was alone with Mandeng in the property with another child and what had started as overly tactile horseplay moved to something more sinister.

“He followed her to the bedroom where he found her laying on her back on top of the bed clothes.

“Once it was over he told her to “go wash” in the shower.”

The child had formed a close relationship with Mandeng during time they spent at a Catholic prayer group in the West End.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, asked teachers at her school a few years later what could be done about ‘things in the past’, the court heard.

She was then formally interviewed by police before a warrant was issued for Mandeng’s arrest.

He had returned to the United States in the years following the assault but was eventually extradited.

Authorities were initially unable to find him but eventually located the 47 year-old after he sent tweets to the victim in 2013.

Mandeng, of no fixed address, denies one count of raping child under 13 and two counts of sexually touching a child under 13.

The trial continues.