A POSTMAN who denied raping a girl aged eight or nine must face a new trial after a jury failed to reach a verdict at Worcester Crown Court.

But Vincent Laux was convicted of a second charge of indecency with the same child in a separate incident.

Laux, 45, of Gibbons Crescent, Stourport, was granted bail. The second trial will take place at a date to be fixed.

During a police interview the defendant denied rape between 2003 and 2005 but admitted carrying out a sex act on himself in front of a young girl.

He claimed he was depressed and drinking at that time and failed to realise the child was present in a flat in Kidderminster.

The jury heard that Laux's marriage broke down and he got divorced nine years ago.

Prosecutor John Attwood alleged he stripped naked before raping the victim in an attack which made her cry.

But doctors who examined her in 2008 - when the complaint was made - found no injuries.

Some evidence given by girl about alleged rape "must have raised alarm bells", said Abigail Nixon, defending.

She described the child as attention seeking and emotionally disturbed.

The lack of medical evidence also pointed to the conclusion that it did not happen, said Miss Nixon.