A GODMANCHESTER man accused of keeping a woman in house for 10 days admitted punching her but denied carry out a series of serious sexually assaults. Paul Hagan-Chambers, 50, also denied detaining the woman at his address in Tudor Road, saying she was reg

A GODMANCHESTER man accused of keeping a woman in house for 10 days admitted punching her but denied carry out a series of serious sexually assaults.

Paul Hagan-Chambers, 50, also denied detaining the woman at his address in Tudor Road, saying she was regularly left alone in the house with the door unlocked.

Earlier, Peterborough Crown Court had heard the woman claimed to have been held against her will at the address and raped during the period of 10 days in March 2006.

She claimed he became violent when she tried to leave the property, and escaped from his house after dialling 999 while Mr Hagan-Chambers was out at the shops buying cigarettes.

On Friday, Mr Hagan-Chambers told the court he had consensual sex twice with the woman, but had never forced himself on her. He denies four charges of rape and one of sexual assault.

Mr Hagan-Chambers said the period had been "a 10-day bender" which saw the pair drinking bottles of wine and staying in the house.

"I don't think we were completely sober for the whole period," he said.

The woman has denied this, insisting she is not a big drinker.

The defendant went on to say that the woman, with whom he had a brief relationship, had asked to stay at his house after being evicted from her accommodation.

Mr Hagan-Chambers admitted punching the woman in the face, saying he had struck out after the woman jabbed at him with a knife during a row.

The woman, who lived in Hartford at the time of the attacks and cannot be named for legal reasons, sustained serious facial bruising in the incident.

Mr Hagan-Chambers told the court that he had offered the woman an ice pack and asked her if she wanted to go to the police or a doctor, but she declined.

He emphatically denied rape, saying that he was extra careful to check he had consent for sex after the woman had made a previous allegation against him.

He also denied hiding the woman's phone or blocking the doorway so she could not leave, saying she had made several phone calls to friends from his landline. He said there was only one occasion when he had locked the woman in the house, and that was at her request.

Mr Hagan-Chambers also claimed that further bruising to the woman's body might have occurred when she fell over a radiator or the coffee table, but he had not seen it.

He also told the court that he had been out of work due to poor health, and had suffered five heart attacks. He denied that he has a history of self-harm, saying confusion had arisen at the police station after his arrest.

The case continues.