A SOLDIER accused of rape told police the alleged victim was enjoying herself and their encounter had been consensual.

Stephen Reeves was arrested by a North Yorkshire Police traffic officer after a report of a rape in Richmond, North Yorkshire, which led police to circulate details of the alleged offender.

Mr Reeves, who has served with the Irish Guards for the past 12 years and was posted to Catterick Garrison in November 2014, said he got chatting to the woman in Louis Bar, Catterick, and was invited back to her home.

He said he was under the impression they were going to have sex by “the way she was kissing me and grinding her body against mine”.

In his account, 32-year-old Mr Reeves, who is on trial at Teesside Crown Court, said during sex the woman suddenly stopped and then disappeared.

He believed she had gone to the toilet.

But he then discovered she had in fact left, leaving the door to the house open.

He told officers: “I just thought she had enough. I did not get the impression she was afraid, she seemed to be enjoying it.

“At no point did she tell me to stop.”

When interviewed by police, the woman said Mr Reeves had pushed her onto a bed and threatened her.

She said he had been “really rough” and held her face “like a rag doll”.

Mr Reeves, who is originally from Belfast, said the woman had not seemed distressed.

However friends later reported her as crying and hysterical, while she also had bruises and scratches to her thigh.

Mr Reeves denies rape on May 24 last year. The trial continues.