A HAIRDRESSER charged with raping a woman while another female allegedly held her down told a jury she consented to have sex with him.

Paul Kershaw said following a night out he and the complainant ended up having sex in the lounge of a house in the Hawarden area.

He said co-defendant Lisa Rodda was not even in the room at the time intercourse took place.

The prosecution at Mold Crown Court allege the defendants lost their inhibitions in drink and treated the complainant as a sexual plaything.

Kershaw, 34, of Claypit Lane, Rowton, Chester and Rodda, 40, of Sidmouth Road, Ashton-upon-Mersey, near Sale, both deny rape and digital penetration.

Giving evidence yesterday, Kershaw said he was out in Chester that night and met Rodda and the complainant in a pub. He had not seen them for years but had done their hair previously.

Questioned by his barrister, Jonathan Duffy, he said Rodda was being sexually provocative and flirty, he flirted back and they kissed.

She asked him back to a house in Hawarden, he agreed and they snogged in the back of the car and were “touchy feely” but nothing too outrageous.

Kershaw said he and Rodda ended up in a bedroom with the complainant and her boyfriend. They were all laughing and joking and Rodda put on some underwear.

“It was a very light-hearted atmosphere,” he told the jury. Nothing occurred at that stage, he said.

He and Rodda left the bedroom and they then had intercourse in the lounge, in other rooms in the house, in the garden and on a trampoline in the garden.

Rodda then said she was hungry and decided to make a bacon sandwich which set off the smoke alarm.

At a later stage Rodda took a cup of tea up to the complainant.

Kershaw went with her to the bedroom and he said Rodda told him the complainant had a sexy body and asked if he wanted to see.

He replied “no not really” but Rodda flashed back the covers.

It was not done in a serious way and they were all laughing, he said.

Rodda told the complainant Kershaw had a big penis and he began stroking the complainant’s leg. She responded by moving her legs and he touched her sexually.

“Her physical response was positive to the point that she wanted me to carry on,” he said.

He did so, but did not believe Rodda realised what was going on at that stage.
Kershaw said he had stopped by the time the complainant’s boyfriend came into the room.

Rodda said they were having a threesome and suggested a foursome to the boyfriend, but it was said as a joke.

He and Rodda left the room but later the complainant went downstairs to make some toast.

Rodda told him to show the complainant his penis and he did so.

“It was said in a joking way. The whole atmosphere was very light-hearted,” he said.

There was a lot of horseplay, joking about and cuddling and Rodda had said to the complainant: “Go on, you can have him if you want. I’m not bothered.”

He and the complainant had sex together,with her consent, but Rodda was not in the room at that stage, he said.

He said he did not instruct Rodda to hold the door.

Asked about his police interview where he had spoken of Rodda restraining her, he said restraint was the wrong word.

Earlier, before intercourse took place, Rodda had her arm over the complainant’s chest and had said to him: “You can have her.” However, no sex took place at that time.

“I did not have sex with her at the same time that Lisa was in any way holding her,” he said.

The prosecution claimed Kershaw, after a races night in June 2010, sexually assaulted the complainant when she was being held in the bedroom and later raped her when she was being held down on a sofa, with her face pushed into a pillow so that she had difficulty breathing.

Proceeding.