A woman – who was drunk on Southern Comfort - has told a jury she has no memory of a night when she was allegedly raped.

Giving evidence from behind screens, she denied it was because she was embarrassed to admit having sex with someone who was “not exactly a catch”.

Daniel Arber, 37, of Morehall Avenue, Cheriton has denied 10 rape and sex assault charges.

The alleged victim told how she remembered being near the Office Bar but could remember nothing until she was woken up after being taken home by police at 4 am in October 2016.

Defence barrister Jason Dunn-Shaw asked: “I am going to suggest there was consensual sex that night?”

The woman said: “No”

Mr Dunn-Shaw said: “He is not exactly a catch, in terms of attractiveness.”

The woman replied: “I am not a shallow person.”

The barrister then asked: “So you would have sex with somebody despite their looks?”

She replied: “If I liked them and their personality..then yes I would.”

"She quite clearly no longer had the capacity to consent to sexual intercourse..." Prosecutor Dominic Connolly

The jury in Canterbury Crown Court heard how the woman returned from the night out without an item of underclothes.

Mr Dunn-Shaw asked: “You took them off in order to have sex?”

She replied: “I don’t remember.”

Prosecutor Dominic Connolly told how on the Saturday night she had been out with friends.

He added: “At some stage during the course of the evening, Arber and the woman met by chance.

“During the course of the night, she got extremely drunk, such that she quite clearly no longer had the capacity to consent to sexual intercourse.

“It is the Crown’s case that Arber took advantage of this and engaged in sexual intercourse with her in various locations as he walked her around the streets of Folkestone, he claimed.

“He is not exactly a catch, in terms of attractiveness...” Defence barrister Jason Dunn-Shaw

A taxi driver later told police how he was driving along Castle Hill Avenue, near to the junction with Court Approach when he saw a male holding up another person.

Mr Connolly added: “At this stage he only saw the back of them and was unable to say whether it was a man and a woman or two men.

“However, it didn’t look right. They were walking towards a bush on the corner of Castle Hill Avenue and Court Approach.

The cabbie became so concerned that he drove around to check on the couple – and after seeing them again, called his office and alerted police.

The trial continues.