A FORMER fire chief accused of raping a widow in his home has said he could not become aroused on the night of the alleged attack.

Peter Glover, 62, also told detectives during an interview that he had a partner and their sex life, once a week, was enough for him.

But a witness told a court yesterday that she called Mr Glover a sex maniac before he was arrested on suspicion of rape last year.

The woman said she had acted as a go-between for Mr Glover and his alleged victim because the widow had become smitten with Mr Glover after she met him on a country bus in east Cleveland.

The go-between said she asked Mr Glover for his phone number to pass on to the alleged victim, and urged him: "Don't muck around with her because she's a lovely lady."

Teesside Crown Court heard that the go-between asked Mr Glover about gossip that he already had a girlfriend, and he told her he did, but said it was "just for sex".

She said: "He said, 'tell her to give me a ring because I would love to give her one'.

"He went out and I said, 'oh, you sex maniac'. Something did not feel right and I rang her and said, 'please don't go there, don't bother, leave well alone, there's plenty more fish in the sea'."

Mr Glover was a Sunday night bingo caller at a club in Staithes, North Yorkshire, used by the go-between and her husband.

The alleged victim, who is not named to protect her identity, told police he attacked her in his home in Coronation Road, Loftus, east Cleveland, on her first visit there, on March 3.

Mr Glover, who ran the town's volunteer fire brigade for more than 33 years, denied any sexual contact with her, and pleaded not guilty to three charges of rape.

In his police interviews, which were read to the court, Mr Glover said he and the woman had "totally consensual foreplay" in the living room of his home.

He said the woman had "gone haywire" and started biting him so he got up and made a cup of tea before they chatted and he drove her home.

The case continues.