A YOUNG woman woke to find she was being sexually assaulted by a house guest before he raped her, a court heard.

The alleged victim told police in an interview days later: "I was a mess. It was awful, it was just horrible."

North Yorkshire soldier Jacob Bell denies rape and assault by penetration and is on trial at Teesside Crown Court.

The 21-year-old initially told police nothing had happened between the pair, but swabs showed the woman's DNA on his private parts.

Mr Bell then admitted sex had taken place, but insisted it was consensual, and he stopped when he felt sick because of the booze he had drunk.

A jury was shown a recording of the complainant's interview in which she gave her account of what happened.

She said she had invited people back to her home after being out on the night of St Patrick's Day and they played a drinking game.

The jury heard that the woman and a couple went first, and Mr Bell turned up several hours later after being to a nightclub and supermarket.

After falling asleep on the sofa while watching a film, the alleged victim was carried to her bed and remembers "snuggling down for the night".

She woke to find naked Mr Bell "wrapped around me", touching her intimately, she said, and claimed the squaddie whispered: "This isn't rape, by the way."

Prosecutor Nicholas Askins told the jury of seven men and five women that her pyjama shorts had been pulled down and she had no bed clothes covering her.

He said Mr Bell then raped her as she asked him to stop, saying: "What are you doing? Get off me."

The woman is said to have been squirming, but finally jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom from where she rang her friend in the bedroom.

The friend found her "shaking and hysterical", said Mr Askins, demanding: "Get him out."

Mr Bell was found in the hallway with a towel wrapped around his bottom half and wearing a fur coat and was ejected.

Under cross-examination from defence barrister, Rod Hunt, the accuser broke down when it was suggested the only reason there was a court case is because she had betrayed her boyfriend.

"You were drunk, you had taken cocaine and you made a mistake which you regret," said Mr Hunt.

Sobbing, the woman replied: "That's not the truth."

Mr Bell, of Bechwood Grove, Colburn, Catterick Garrison, has spent time in Germany and Estonia with the army, the court heard.

The trial continues.