A WOMAN who says she was raped in her home was found to have suffered injuries including bruises and grazes, a court heard yesterday.

John Ellison is on trial at Teesside Crown Court accused of raping and indecently assaulting the woman. He denies the charges.

The court previously heard that Mr Ellison, 32, of Sunniside, Tow Law, County Durham, met the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in a pub in Bishop Auckland on November 15 last year and the pair went back to her home for a drink.

It is alleged Mr Ellison attacked the woman after becoming angry at finding some of her estranged husband's toiletries in the bathroom.

Police surgeon Dr Susan Waterworth, who examined the woman, said she found 22 injuries to her body, head and neck.

Dr Waterworth said she thought some of the injuries on the body showed the woman may have been gripped with considerable force.

Rod Hunt, for Mr Ellison, said the woman had exaggerated the incident, which he described as a drunken fight.

He said it happened after the pair were unable to have consensual sex because of the amount of alcohol they had consumed.

The woman denied this allegation.

The case continues.