Accused student says sex with cheerleader was consensual

Christopher Brown, 21, described the cheerleader, as "a bit forward", and said he had no idea why she claimed he had raped her after what he said was a night of consensual sex.

The woman, then 20, told the High Court in Livingston earlier that she had been raped twice by Brown, whom she had met outside a nightclub after the university's Cheerleading Society's annual Christmas meal - and gone home with to "fool around and have sex or something".

Jurors were today shown a tape of a police interview in which Brown, of Lasswade, Midlothian was told that the results of a medical examination of the alleged victim revealed injuries which were "consistent" with such an attack.

Brown told police officers Mark Berry and John Peatson that the allegations made by the girl, then a law student, now working as a waitress, were "crazy".

He said he "did not know why she had said that had happened".

He told police that he had "two bottles of vodka and a bottle of champagne" with six friends that night, as well as having a "few beers".

He said he met the girl, whom he described as a "bit forward", and they then went back to his flat and "just had sex".

He said he saw the girl leaving afterwards, but he didn't go after her because he assumed it was a "one night stand" and he would "never see her again".

The girl claimed in evidence that she had run out of the building in terror after the incident, flagged down a taxi and told the driver she had been raped. He took her to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Jurors head Detective Constable Peatson tell Brown: "The medical examination carried out on the victim has shown she has a number of injuries which would be consistent with what she said. Does it surprise you that there were injuries?"

Brown replied: "Yes. I'm trying to remember what happened. Everything was clear but now I'm having a lot of second thoughts."

DC Peatson then asked: "She has said it was sore and she said that to you, and following from that she told you she wanted to stop and you have not done so and carried on intercourse. She said she was crying because it was so painful."

Brown replied: "She wasn't crying. There were no signs of distress. She showed no signs she was unhappy. I don't know why she's said that. This is just crazy almost. I don't know what to say."

Night shift nurse Rachel O'Brien, 30, was working on the night of the incident at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, said in evidence that the alleged victim was "trembling" when she told her what she said had happened.

Nurse O'Brien said: "She was seriously upset. She had obviously been crying. Mascara was dripping down her face and she was distressed."

Brown, of Waddingburn Road, Lasswade, Midlothian, denies raping the former cheerleader at his then accommodation in Drumsheugh Place, Edinburgh, on 5 December, 2008, and claims the woman consented.

The trial, before Lord Matthews, continues.