'Promiscuous' man tells court he took girls to park for sex

A MAN accused of raping a student nurse in Bradford 22 years ago has told a jury he could not remember his whereabouts that night but insisted he had never raped anybody.

Lee Martin said he had been trying to recollect the events of that weekend in 1988 since his arrest last year following a cold case review of the incident.

"I do wish I could remember where I was that night, I have been racking my brains for 12 months," he told Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

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He told the jury when he had sex with girls it was always with their consent, adding: "I have never raped anybody."

At that time, he was 18 and regularly went out on Friday and Saturday nights into Bradford City Centre to clubs and pubs and would chat up girls.

"If things worked out you'd end up with a girl at the end of the night, if not I used to get a curry and get a taxi and go home with my friends."

He said he did not set out to have sex with the girls he met "but more times than not I would end up having sex."

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His counsel Guy Kearl QC asked: "Would you describe yourself as having been promiscuous at that time?"

"I'm afraid so, yes," replied Martin.

Martin, 40, of Averingcliffe Road, Bradford, denies raping the student nurse in the early hours of May 14, 1988.

The prosecution claims she was dragged into bushes as she was returning from a night out to the nurses home at St Luke's Hospital, Bradford.

After a review last year, a DNA match was found to Martin who was on the data base following an arrest for being drunk and disorderly in 2001.

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Martin told the jury at the time he lived with his mother and was not

allowed to take girls home so he would either go to their address for sex or sometimes would end up having it in secluded public areas such as parks.

Jamie Hill QC asked Martin: "Is it your defence she consented to sex in the bushes with you and has then cried rape?"

"You would have to ask her that," replied Martin.

"The jury need to know if you are saying that is a possibility," continued Mr Hill.

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"I cannot remember that night I cannot remember her," said the defendant.

"Are you saying you have forgotten having sex with a 20-year-old student nurse in the bushes?" said Mr Hill.

"I'm saying exactly what I have been saying Mr Hill, it's an episode in my life I cannot remember, it was so long ago," replied Martin.

Mr Hill asked him if he thought he had "got away with it".

"No I do not," replied Martin. "I have never raped anybody and never will."

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Concluding his evidence Martin was asked by his own counsel if he had raped the complainant.

"No I did not, just because I don't remember where I was doesn't mean I raped her," he said.

The trial continues.

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