A MAN accused of raping a student at the John Radcliffe Hospital was found sleeping in an air vent the night before.

Ian Joseph, of no fixed abode, denies raping the woman in a unisex toilet in the West Wing on October 30 last year.

The 44-year-old had spent the last three nights at the Headington hospital, but police forced him to leave after staff found him, Oxford Crown Court heard yesterday.

The woman told the jury on Tuesday she was waiting for her sister and assumed Joseph, who was hanging around in the reception, worked at the hospital.

She said at about 8.35pm he followed her into the cubicle, locked the door and performed a sex act on her.

But yesterday Joseph said he walked into the toilet by accident, apologised and left immediately.

He also said he did not feel well after taking amphetamines from a woman he met at a bus stop before he went inside the hospital.

Joseph said: “I was off my head, but sex was not on my mind.

“There was no physical contact between us.”

Joseph was arrested at a McDonald’s, in Southampton, on November 1.

In a police interview the following day he said the accusation could be part of a conspiracy to stop him from sleeping at the hospital.

In court yesterday he said he was still under the influence of the drug during the interview.

The trial continues.