A BASINGSTOKE man on trial accused of raping a vulnerable teenager in his static caravan has claimed the sex was consensual, a court has heard.

Gary Peter Ian Davidson, 34, said he "hated" himself for the fact he had engaged in sexual activity with the girl, who he believed to be 17.

At Winchester Crown Court on Friday (July 16), the jury heard a transcript of Mr Davidson’s police interview read aloud by Mary Aspinall-Miles, prosecuting, and the case officer, Detective Constable Fawcett.

The defendant told the interviewing officer: “If I had known she was 16, this would never have happened in a million years.

"I hate myself for the fact that I would have done that with a 17-year-old who is not even old enough to have alcohol and 16, it’s not illegal but it’s morally wrong, at least it is morally wrong to me.”

Mr Davidson is on trial for allegedly plying a 16-year-old girl with drugs and alcohol before sexually assaulting her along with his friend and co-defendant, Thuc Hung Dinh, 33, known as "Chan".

The court heard how Mr Davidson claimed Mr Dinh rang him on a night out at the Old Basing British Legion in February 2018, telling him he had a "17-year-old girl" in his car and they were outside his caravan on the Hatch Park Mobile Home Park in Old Basing.

Mr Davidson relayed his account of events to police, describing the victim as "acting just a bit drunk but she was ok. She was walking ok, her speech was not slurry or anything".

He claimed he was "not happy" about having her there and said she had to leave. But eventually, the trio stayed up with another friend drinking vodka.

Mr Davidson claimed he was “trying to avoid giving her [the complainant] too much alcohol” because she seemed too drunk.

Mr Davison claimed that Mr Dinh began “getting a bit gropey”, and he told her she didn’t need to sit with him, but when he asked if it was ok she “smiled and nodded”.

The three of them then went into Mr Davidson's bedroom where he claimed he performed a sex act on the girl before having consensual sex.

He claimed that she was "definitely conscious" and alleged he asked her what her age was, to which she allegedly responded 17.

He said: "She was not stopping it. She was just letting me go ahead."

Mr Davidson told police: "When I said, 'Do you want to go again?' she just smiled and nodded. I gave her oral sex again at this point. I thought she looked like she was enjoying it. She was 100 per cent conscious."

He went onto say that if he had known the teenager was 16, it "never would have happened in a million years".

When asked by police why he had done it, Mr Davidson continued: “Vodka I think. It wasn’t a conscious choice. It’s not something that I planned to go out and do. I thought it was consensual. I hate myself. To have the police come and arrest me at the pub. I hate those people when I see them in the news, and to think that I could end up being one of them.”

Earlier this week Ms Aspinall-Miles told the jury that the complainant had frozen and said "no, no no several times to them and physically tried to push them off and when they ignored her, she froze".

Davidson, of Basingfield Close, Basingstoke, has pleaded not guilty to rape and two counts of sexual assault.

The trial continues.