AN alleged sexual assault on a woman at a packed Oxford nightclub could not have happened in the five seconds recorded of the incident on CCTV, a court has heard.

Fred Edwards, of Cowley Road, East Oxford, denies one count of sexual assault on the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, while they were dancing at the O2 Academy on November 3.

The 21-year old told police after his arrest that despite having little recollection of the night ‘he would never have done that’.

In summing up yesterday Recorder Julian Knowles QC told the jury of six men and six women at his trial at Oxford Crown Court that Edwards, an Oxford Brookes University student at the time, had strongly denied the allegation.

Quoting Edwards, he said: “I am devastated that someone would make such an allegation.

“I am flirtatious but absolutely not predatory.”

Defending, Eleanor Laws, told the jury the whole incident lasted only a matter of seconds and that the CCTV footage showed the pair dancing together, kissing ‘consensually’, and her being lifted up by Edwards, but not the alleged attack.

The prosecution maintains that Edwards hoisted his victim up and sexually assaulted her, before she broke free and ran to the toilets at the venue in Cowley Road.

The woman previously told jurors she had tried to fend off Edwards by pushing and kicking him.

The trial continues.