A MAN on trial over the alleged rape of a woman has denied telling “absolute lies” about an incident involving the pair.
Mark George Farrell, 28, faces three charges, all of which he denies. Each alleges that he raped a woman in Penrith town centre during the early hours of April 1.
Farrell is on trial at Carlisle Crown Court. Today (WED) he gave evidence during more than two hours in the witness box.
His lawyer, Brian Williams, asked: “Did you rape her?”
Farrell replied: “No.”
When cross-examined by prosecutor Tim Evans, Farrell denied giving a false version of events to jurors.
He spoke of meeting the woman in Burrowgate. They began “interacting” in a “flirty” manner; began to hold hands; and then walked to “somewhere private” in a “spur of the moment”.
CCTV footage played to the jury captured them walking into an alleyway off Middlegate. “We both had consensual sex up an alleyway,” said Farrell. He insisted it was “extremely false” to allege that he raped a woman who, he claimed, “led” much of the sexual activity.
Mr Evans said in response: “I suggest that is all absolute lies to try and cover what you knew that you had done. She didn’t lead anything. It was you that, in effect, grabbed her and forced her.”
Farrell replied: “No.”
Mr Evans had earlier also suggested: “This is all a complete lie, told and invented by you.”
Farrell, of St Ann’s Crescent, Carlisle, responded: “Not at all, sir.”
The trial continues.
