Jurors have been played ten video clips which prosecutors claim show a Leigh gym owner sexually abusing an underage girl.

The videos were shot by an eyewitness who told Basildon Crown Court that she took them so she could give them to police as evidence.

Matthew Rattenbury, co-owner of the One Hundred Club gym in Rectory Grove, denies one count of sexually assaulting a girl aged under 13.

Described in Companies House filings as a “wellness coach”, he claims he was actually giving the girl an innocent massage.

But prosecutor Natalie Bird contended that even if it began as a legitimate massage, there was “no reasonable excuse” for the actions captured in the videos.

She told the jury of seven women and five men: “The prosecution will say that you can and should be sure that Matthrew Rattenbury has no defence.”

Mrs Bird said a witness had stumbled upon the alleged assault in progress and “began filming what she was seeing as evidence of what is considered by the prosecution to be the sexual abuse of a child.”

She played the ten clips, all filmed in quick succession, to the jury.

“[The witness] then called the police and provided them with those clips, leading to Mr Rattenbury’s arrest later that day,” Mrs Bird continued.

“The prosecution say that it is clear from the footage that you have now seen that Mr Rattenbury touched the victim in a sexual manner.

“He says that, in line with his job as a sports therapist, he was giving her a massage. The prosecution say that by the end of this trial, if not already, you will be sure that he’s lying about that.”

But, she added, the alleged victim will not give evidence in the trial, which began on Wednesday, November 13.

The prosecution called as its first witness the woman who shot the videos, who told the jury she knew little about Mr Rattenbury, beyond that he co-owned the Club One Hundred gym and might also have a rental property.

“My job role means I have received safeguarding training and I knew that the best I could do in this situation was to have evidence that I could show that I could escalate to the police,” she testified.

After retrieving her phone, “I just checked to see if it was still happening, probably had a bit of a panic, if I’m honest, and then decided I was going to take some images and videos.

“I was worried about being seen. I would take some images, step back and then step forward again.”

On multiple occasions, she alleged, the girl seemed to try to get away from Mr Rattenbury, but he kept pulling her back towards him.

She dialled 101 and handed her phone containing the videos to police officers later that day.

Attending officer PC Christopher McManus wrote in his witness statement, read aloud to the jury: “When I arrived, I could clearly see that the informant was in distress.”

Rattenbury, 42, of Chestnut Avenue in Gosfield, is the registered director of several companies linked to the Club One Hundred fitness studio in Rectory Grove, Leigh-on-Sea, and is listed on its website as a co-founder.

He denies the alleged offence. His trial is expected to last two to three days.