A MAN accused of sexually assaulting three teenage friends during a night out has told a jury: "This is not me - this is not my style."

Shachawan Ahmed confessed to police after his arrest that he would kiss up to ten women a night if he was out having a drink with friends.

But the 32-year-old denies groping the 16-year-old friends during a festive night out at a disco bar in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

A jury has heard allegations that the girls were molested in Monaco's late-night bar by pizza shop worker Mr Ahmed on December 29 last year.

Mr Ahmed, from Darlington, is alleged to have kissed and indecently touched two of the young friends near the dancefloor of the pub.

He is then said to have grabbed a third girl's hand and put it down the front of his trousers when she went to remonstrate with him about his conduct.

The jury at Teesside Crown Court has also heard claims that the Iraqi national also exposed himself and tried to make two of the girls touch him.

Giving evidence yesterday, Mr Ahmed insisted: "I don't do anything like that. This is not me - this is not my style."

Asked by his barrister, Victoria Lamballe, about trying to force the girls' hands down his trousers, he added: "I do not believe anyone could do that in such a public place."

The court heard that Mr Ahmed was thrown from the town centre pub by door staff, and tried to flee when police were called to the scene.

During an interview, the suspect admitted kissing the first two girls but said it was consensual and nothing else had happened.

Mr Ahmed told police he would regularly kiss girls if he was on a night out, and claimed he would do so as many as ten times a night.

Yesterday, he told the jury that he fled from the door staff because he was frightened, and jumped into the back of a police car nearby for safety.

He admitted during his evidence that he groped the breasts of the first girl he kissed, but she did not object to being touched.

He said the friends must have made up the claims because they were upset and jealous when they later saw him with someone else.

Mr Ahmed, of Gladstone Street, denies three charges of sexual assault, and is facing a trial which is expected to end today.