A YOUNG man accused of sexually abusing a man after a night out on the town has told a jury: “I would never do that.”

Oliver Shann insists the encounter was consensual, and tearfully told Teesside Crown Court that he has since had to examine his sexuality.

The 21-year-old initially told police that nothing at all had happened between the pair in the house in Middlesbrough in the early hours last summer.

But when scientific evidence proved that was not the case, he said contact between them had been with consent.

Mr Shann said he had been chatting with the other young man for a while before anything happened, but admitted that there had been no sexual talk.

He denied claims from prosecutor Ian West that his alleged victim was asleep or in a drunken daze at the time.

Breaking down several times during cross-examination, the psychology graduate said: “I didn’t plan it, it just happened. It was a spontaneous thing.”

Mr West said: “What you did in that bedroom was to try it on.”

Mr Shann answered: “What happened in that bedroom was consensual. I would not want to do that to him. He was not asleep. He was awake the whole thing.”

A jury of eight men and four women has heard how the alleged victim got up and left when he realised what had happened, looked on the internet for "what to do if you are sexually assaulted" and dialled 101.

Mr Shann and others at the house were woken when four police officers went around the rooms.

Asked by Mr West why his accuser would report what had happened, he replied: “All I can think of is he has kind of panicked and was embarrassed, and wanted to get out of there.”

In a video-recorded interview with police which was played to the jury, his accuser said he was half-asleep when it felt as though he was being touched.

Asked by a detective, how he felt, the alleged victim said: “Terrified. I just froze. I wish I had shouted or said something, but I was more just confused.”

Mr Shann, of Hutton Avenue, Darlington, described himself as bisexual, but when asked when he realised he was, he said: “It wasn’t something overnight. I think from the incident it is something I have obviously had to think about.”

The trial continues.