A reveller, who denies raping a woman in Dover on Christmas Day, told a jury how he later ignored her cries for help.

Tudor Tofoi, 21, claimed he had just had consensual sex with her after they met for the first time in the town.

He told Canterbury Crown Court how the two were having sex behind Pencester Court when he was interrupted by a pal.

Romanian Tofoi claimed a friend called George, who he had been drinking with, then tapped him on his shoulder which spooked him and he ran away.

Speaking in English, he told the jury how George ran towards him as he heard the 26 year old woman shouting for help.

He said:"I asked him what he was doing there.I felt so terrible and ashamed that I left without looking back.

“Then I heard her asking for help but I didn't look back."

Tofoi told the jury that he was out of sight when he heard the woman screaming for help.

Then his friend came running up to him and told him that the girl had gone mad, slapped him and started screaming.

After going home, he later read an account of the rape on KentOnline and the two friends bought tickets to travel to Romania – but he was later persuaded to return to the UK by his mother who travelled to Belgium to collect him.

Tofoi, of High Street, Dover, told the jury he first saw the woman at traffic lights near the Prince Albert pub.

"I thought she was pretty so I went over and asked her for a lighter," he said.

Tofoi, who had downed five vodka and Red Bulls at the Duchess pub, had been walking around Dover with pal George.

While he was talking to the woman he told George to go home but claimed he kept following them at a distance .

Tofoi said: "He was being creepy and standing in the dark.I told him to leave me alone and go home."

"I thought she was pretty so I went over and asked her for a lighter" - Tudor Tofoi

They walked around town and Tofoi said the pair walked into an alleyway and fondled each other.They went to the Castle Inn in Russell Street but were refused access.

The two then walked past the Co-Op store and the friend was still following.

He said:"I told him to go home. He was trying to piss me off."

The prosecution had claimed the two – who were allegedly caught on CCTV stalking their victim - carried out the rape together.

During cross-examination, prosecutor Deborah Charles toldTofoi:"You thought that nobody would believe the word of a drunken girl.You, together with your friend, decided to take advantage of a vulnerable girl who you would have your way with.

"This account of you walking away is rubbish. You punched her in the face and dragged her down an alley."

The judge has begun her summing up and the jury is expected to go out to consider its verdict later today.