A man facing a New Year’s Day rape charge has told a jury he had consensual sex with his female accuser.

Grant Nolan, 27, is on trial at Carlisle Crown Court where he has denied an allegation of rape near Egremont on January 1, 2016.

The attack is said to have happened at a New Year party when Nolan is alleged to have raped the woman as she slept.

But on day two of the trial yesterday Nolan denied committing any crime.

Nolan said he was “drunk but not very drunk” on the night.

He said he was sitting near the woman, who was using her phone. He left the room briefly before returning.

“She was lying down on the seat,” he said. “She was still awake. She looked at me. She budged along for me to lay down next to her, so I did.”

He said that it was after this that they had consensual sex.

Nolan’s barrister, Greg Hoare, asked: “At that point was she awake or asleep?”

“She was awake,” Nolan of Sherwens Terrace, Egremont, replied.

He said both he and the woman agreed the brief encounter had been “a mistake” but he denied raping her.

She was cross-examined in court by Mr Hoare, who suggested her sexual contact with Nolan had been entirely consensual.

“That is not true,” the woman responded. She added: “I am not lying. I am telling the truth.”

The trial continues.