Rape accused had fight with man in alley, court told

A former teacher and his friend fought with a 19-year-old man in an alley after he accused them of rape, a court has heard.

George Ellis, 41, and Mark Lett, 43, deny raping the man after meeting him after a night out in Brighton, East Sussex, in December 2024.

Ellis, of Esher, Surrey, said the man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, punched him, bit his shoulder and gouged his eye.

On Tuesday at Lewes Crown Court, he said the sexual encounter between the three men had been consensual.

The former PE teacher said he remained clothed throughout the few minutes from meeting the man at a bus stop to fighting him in a basement stairwell at about 03:30 GMT on 21 December 2024.

"He started struggling, he was tense and very aggressive," Ellis told the court.

The man tried to "claw" his face, adding: "He just kept shouting 'rape'."

The man punched Ellis in the face and bit his shoulder, so he tried to punch his ribs and "charged" him into a wall, he said.

"I got my fingers onto his hand that was in my eye," Ellis told jurors.

"When I got his hands off, I was able to punch him in the face, and I was able to break free."

Ellis told the court that he did not seek medical help for his eye because he was embarrassed that he had been fighting.

Ellis also told the court that he and Lett, a former assistant headteacher, knew one another from working in the same school and sharing a flat.

Lett, of Chessington, south-west London, said the three were in an "embrace" within minutes of meeting at a seafront bus stop.

Within seconds of meeting, Lett asked the man if he was interested in having sex with them, the court heard.

He had not introduced himself and did not know the man's name, jurors heard.

Lett also told police the encounter was consensual.

Ian Hope, prosecuting, said that Ellis he had helped Lett rape the man.

"You knew he was alleging he had been raped, you knew there had been violence," Hope said.

Ellis denied this, adding: "I was scared, he's just attacked me."

The trial continues.

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