A MAN has gone on trial accused of raping a woman as she slept.

Grant Nolan, 27, is alleged to have raped the woman near Egremont in the early hours of New Year's Day last year.

Nolan denied the allegation at the start of a trial at Carlisle Crown Court today.

Tim Evans, prosecuting, said neither the complainant nor Nolan, of Sherwens Terrace, Egremont, knew each other prior to that night when both were drinking into the New Year.

He said: "She fell asleep and was woken up by the defendant, in effect, having sex with her."

Police were later called after the woman told a friend about the incident.

A video recording of an interview she gave to an officer later that day was played to the jury.

"When I woke up I was like 'what the hell?'," said the woman. "I said 'you have raped me'. He was on top of me. I told him to get off me. He did get off me.

"I didn't understand what was happening. I was just asleep. For about 10 seconds I was frozen."

But, during his opening, Mr Evans said to the jury: "The defendant denies, in effect, that those were the circumstances of what was going on at all."

Describing Nolan's version of events, the prosecutor said: "She kisses him. She made the running, in other words, and that they had had sex in which she was a willing and enthusiastic partner."

But during cross-examination the woman maintained she had been asleep at the time of the incident. She stated there was no consensual contact.

Mr Evans said to the jury: "When you think about it, somebody on one side or other must be telling wicked lies."

And he added: "The issue for you to decide is whether there had been a rape."

The trial continues.