A man accused of exposing himself to teenage girls on a towpath told a court he did not mean to flash them.

Ali Maqsood, 37, of no fixed abode, faces trial for exposure, robbery and assault by beating after three incidents between September 4 and 18 last year.

Kingston Crown Court heard Mr Maqsood, who is homeless and had been sleeping rough, was going to the toilet in bushes next to the Thames towpath in Weybridge when he allegedly exposed himself to two 13-year-old girls.

Speaking with the help of a Hindi interpreter he told the court he did not think anyone was around at the time.

He said: “I thought no one was around me and when I heard a jump and a scream they scared me and that’s why I noticed these girls.”

Mr Maqsood told the court he was facing the towpath and was about four metres from the girls, who he looked at and they looked back.

He said when they saw each other he had stopped urinating and did not intend to show them his private parts.

Mr Maqsood told the court he walked away and saw the girls speaking to a man but did not say anything to them.

The court heard Mr Maqsood was arrested later that day, September 4, at Walton Bridge.

The trial continues.