An "evil" cult leader tried to force a pregnant schoolgirl to give birth so the secret occult group could claim the child as its own, a jury has been told.

Colin Batley, 48, is alleged to have raped a vulnerable schoolgirl after luring her to his home.

On another occasion he stepped in to try to prevent another from aborting a baby he believed he, or another cult member, had conceived, the court heard.

Batley is accused of heading a sick paedophile ring run as a quasi-religious cult so as to better control his victims. He organised "pagan parties" where cult members donned hooded robes and had sex together, a Swansea Crown Court jury heard.

Batley is on trial with five others accused of running the cult from a nondescript cul-de-sac in Kidwelly, West Wales. He and a group of cult members moved to Wales from London before settling on the quiet seaside town as a base of operations.

Batley repeatedly denied the accusations against him as he spoke out in his own defence.

He denied he ran a cult or was in any way a leader. He did admit having an "open" sexual relationship with his wife, enjoying threesomes. He dismissed accusations he had raped a teenage schoolgirl who later became pregnant, claiming they had had consensual sex.

Batley and four women deny 32 charges including rape, indecent assault, forcing a girl to work as a prostitute and inciting a child to have sex. His wife Elaine Batley, 47, Sandra Iveson, 45, Jacqueline Marling, 42, and Shelly Millar, 35, are all on trial together.

Batley denies a further 12 charges of possessing indecent images of an under age girl and has been found not guilty of one charge of rape following a review of evidence at the end of the prosecution case.

Sixth defendant Vincent Barden, 70, of Kempston, Bedfordshire, has admitted assaulting an under age girl but denies a single rape charge. The trail continues.