A STUDENT has told a court that a man led her into a dark alley in the grounds of a city hospital and raped her.

Mark Trevor Calvert, 28, of Doncaster Road, Newcastle, denies raping the woman in March 1998. He agrees they had sex, but claims it was with her consent.

The woman, who was 19 at the time of the alleged attack, told Teesside Crown Court yesterday that the incident happened after a night out with friends in Newcastle.

She had been drinking in the Tuxedo Royale floating nightclub when she became separated from her friends and decided to walk home.

The court heard she was making her way through the city centre when she was approached by a complete stranger.

She said the man started walking alongside her and twice asked if she wanted to go home with him, but she said no. Later, he put his arm around her.

They walked into the grounds of the Royal Victoria Infirmary, where she claimed the man gave her a peck on the lips, which caused her to step back in shock.

She said: "Then, this man took me by the left elbow and led me into a narrow, dark alleyway."

She said the man raped her and left, after which she returned to her student accommodation.

The woman said she had been really drunk that night. She said that, before the alleged rape, the man had asked her if she was drunk, and she told him that she was.

Patrick Cosgrove QC, defending, asked the woman why she had not said "no", or "stop". She said that it was because she was drunk, had not felt in control, and it all happened so quickly.

She said: "I didn't want to be there with this man. I didn't want to have sex with him - that's all there is to it."

The trial continues.