A MAN accused of rape told jurors yesterday the sex was consensual and he and the woman shared a joke afterwards.

Mark Just, who denies two charges of rape, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court.

Describing his encounter with the 22-year-old woman near Cogges Farm, Witney, at about 12.10am on May 13 last year, Just said he struck up a conversation before they had sex.

He said: “I put my arm around her and then kissed her. She kissed me back.”

Just, who was with his cousin Patrick Juste, claimed while giving evidence that he and the woman went on to have sex. He also claimed she performed a sex act on his cousin.

The defendant admitted drinking six pints of beer and two shots that night.

In her evidence, the woman said she had drunk 15 vodka and lemonades.

Just, 26, told jurors that after the incident, the trio headed up Church Lane and the woman laughed about an intimate detail of the encounter.

Under cross-examination from Sally Mealing-McLeod, prosecuting, Just, of Sedge Way, Carterton, was asked how he could tell the woman had consented.

He replied: “I suppose (she was being) slightly flirtatious, the way she was acting. I can’t really explain.”

The trial continues.