Teen consented to sex, Joseph Eubank tells court

Joseph Eubank, 27, is facing a trial over two counts of rape

A 27-year-old man accused of raping a 16-year-old girl on a Brighton beach has told a trial their encounter was "all very consensual".

Joseph Eubank told Lewes Crown Court he first noticed the girl who "looked completely sober" while she was with friends on the night of the alleged attack on 16 July 2022.

The court was previously told by prosecutor Beverly Cripps that the girl had never been drunk like that before and "couldn't see straight".

Mr Eubank, of Hove, has denied two counts of rape of the girl.

On Wednesday, Mr Eubank - a son of boxing legend Chris Eubank senior - told the trial that after his mobile was seized by police, he did not give the pin to police because of "family matters".

He said that on the night of the alleged rape, he and some friends had driven into Brighton to go to a nightclub where another friend was DJing before ending up at a casino.

He said he had not been drinking.

When he left at about 22:00 BST, he said, he sat at the seafront and "noticed [the alleged victim] and a couple of friends".

'Clear body language'

When she left her friends, Mr Eubank said he approached her because "she was attractive".

He described the girl as "very easy going" and said she had asked for his Snapchat account details.

"The body language was very clear," Mr Eubank told the court.

"There was smirks, smiles, intense looks that we were sharing. Showing we were both attracted to each other."

He also told the court he believed she was "around uni age" and that while she did stumble "one time" as they walked to the beach "it was not a drunken stumble".

Mr Eubank said that after they sat down and began kissing, the girl told him she was 16 and he "pulled back and swore and she said 'no, no, no, don't worry. It's fine'".

"She came back on to me to kiss," he added. "At which point it picked up fairly quickly".

"It was all very fluent and all very consensual," he said.

On Monday, the court was told by the prosecutor that the teenager remembered Mr Eubank asking her age.

She replied 16, and he said he was 26, before saying something like "let's go look at the moon", the court heard.

She said he had initially been friendly but became more aggressive "moving her quickly down the beach".

She said she "didn't realise" he had pulled her down to the bottom of the groynes near the sea at about 23:30 BST, where he forced her down.

The court was told she was on her front lying on the stones and realised afterwards she had been raped.