A MAN raped a woman when she was asleep, it was alleged to a court.

Anthony Hillary was also alleged to have filmed the act on his mobile phone, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Katy Dunn said: “She [the alleged victim] was asleep and it would be obvious to anybody that she was asleep and therefore she would not be in a position to consent at all.”

Ms Dunn said the woman later discovered the video on Mr Hillary’s mobile phone and, disgusted, confronted him.

She provided a statement to police, who arrested the defendant and seized a memory card from his phone with three intimate videos of the woman on it.

When he was quizzed by detectives Mr Hillary denied rape and said that while he had videoed sex acts between the pair any activity had been consensual.

He also said he would never have sex with a woman while she slept.

The prosecutor said that following Mr Hillary’s remand in custody he sent a number of texts to the woman.

One said he was not coping well and it was “hell” in jail. In the same text he said he had suffered a heart attack and told the woman to “now go drop the charges”.

The defendant admitted sending the text message, but said the complainant had initiated the contact between them.

Ms Dunn said: “He tried to use emotional blackmail to persuade her to drop the charges.”

The videos were shown to the jury, but not before the public gallery in the courtroom was cleared at the request of Judge Peter Bowers.

Mr Hillary, 66, of Leazes Lane, St Helen Auckland, County Durham, denies rape and doing an act intended to pervert the course of justice.

The trial, which is expected to last four days, continues.