A young woman who claims she was raped while heading home from a pub in Witney admitted checking her handbag during the incident, a court heard.

Giving evidence at Oxford Crown Court yesterday, the woman told a jury that she had been forced into having sex by Mark Just.

The 26-year-old defendant, of Sedge Way, Carterton, denies raping the 22-year-old in Church Lane, Witney, and said sex was consensual.

On Monday, the jury was told the woman had been ejected from the Chequers pub, in Witney, on May 13 last year for being drunk.

David Bright, defending, suggested to the woman that Just and his cousin, Patrick Juste, had walked with her for a distance before the incident.

“He put an arm around you and you didn’t protest,” suggested Mr Bright.

“No,” she replied.

“He kissed you on the lips and you responded by returning that kiss.”

She replied: “I didn’t return no kiss.”

Mr Bright said: “I suggest that at no time while this was going on, either by act or word, did you object.”

The woman admitted she had not told Just to stop, claiming she did not have time to, nor did she tell him to get off her. When Mr Bright asked if she had checked to see if her handbag was still there, she replied: “I did indeedy.”

Under re-examination by Sally Mealing-McLeod, prosecuting, however, she insisted she was raped.

She said she had not shouted because Just put a hand on her mouth.

The trial continues.