A woman has told a court that the man accused of murdering 13-year-old Lucy McHugh led her to have sex in the same woodland where the schoolgirl’s body was found.

Stephen Nicholson, 25, is accused of stabbing Lucy in the neck and upper body near Southampton Sports Centre in July last year.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had contacted Nicholson in order for him to give her and a friend a tattoo in June 2012, when she was 14.

She told Winchester Crown Court that their contact became “flirtatious” and Nicholson asked her to meet up for sex.

She said she went to the home of Nicholson’s friend for the meeting, but that the pair went for a walk to the sports centre after the friend returned unexpectedly.

The woman said the defendant, who was then 18, asked if she still wanted to have sex.

“I said no because we were now outside and I didn’t feel comfortable with that,” she told the court.

But she said he kept persisting until she agreed.

“I said I didn’t want it out in the open, he said he could take me up to the wooded area because he knew that was a bit more private and no-one would see us.”

She told the jury: “He was leading as if he knew exactly where he was going, it was in the middle, you literally couldn’t see past the trees any more.”

She said that after the sex, the atmosphere was “very awkward silence” and added: “Because it didn’t last very long and he could tell I was a bit disappointed with it, he said he probably should get back to work.”

When asked why she had met a stranger for sex, she said: “I was 14, I was stupid.”

Her friend told the court the woman had sex with Nicholson as “part-payment” for the tattoo.

Nicholson is also charged with sexual activity with a child over the alleged incident.

As well as Lucy’s murder, he is also charged with three counts of rape against her when she was aged 12 and two charges of sexual activity with a child on multiple occasions when she was 13.

Nicholson, of no fixed address, denies all the charges.

The teenager’s body was found in Southampton last July.

She died of “catastrophic bleeding” after she was stabbed and slashed 27 times with a knife.

The trial continues.

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