Benjamin Mendy denies rape accusation because he asked victim's boyfriend for permission

• Granada Reports correspondent Rob Smith has the latest from the court

A Manchester City defender denies raping a woman because his alleged victim's boyfriend said it was be 'ok' to have sex with her, a court has heard.

Benjamin Mendy, 28, told a court he only now understood why the woman then got upset, as he gave evidence at his rape trial at Chester Crown Court.

The Premier League star took to the witness box as his lawyer, Eleanor Laws KC, began taking him through the first of the nine allegations he faces involving six different women.

The first to accuse him of sex offences was aged 29 at the time and had gone to his house, The Spinney in Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire, in October 2018.

She told Mendy she did not want to have sex with him and that she had a boyfriend, but, the court heard, he still tried to grab her and rape her.

The woman and others had been clubbing and then stayed at Mendy’s home, where she slept in a bedroom with her boyfriend who was a friend of the French footballer.

Mendy said he asked his friend, the morning after, how he would feel if he tried to have sex with her.

The footballer told the jury: “I realise it is disrespectful and bad, I asked him if it was OK if I tried to have sex with her. He told me yes.”

Mendy said he went to the bedroom where she was having a shower and told her she was “sexy”.

The woman, who was wearing just a towel, flirted with him he said, and then they began touching each other.

Mendy then told the court he asked her if they could have sex, but she said no because of her boyfriend, to which Mendy said: “He was fine with that.”

Mendy continued: “She started to be upset. I said: ‘You can ask him if you want to?’ She continued to be upset.”

After this Mendy said he left her alone and went back downstairs and arranged for her to be driven to the train station so she could go home. 

Ms Laws asked Mendy if he knew why this comment might have upset her, to which he replied he now understood. 

Mendy was also asked about a comment he had made the night before while they were all drinking and dancing in the nightclub.

He said the woman had been flirting with him and, while dancing with her boyfriend, he had whispered to her: ‘I am going to kidnap you.’

Mendy said this was just “joking”, adding: “The mood was good. Good vibes.”

Prosecutors say Mendy is a “predator” who “turned the pursuit of women for sex into a game”, while co-defendant Louis Saha Matturie allegedly had the job of finding young women for sex, which he denies.

Mendy denies seven counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and one count of sexual assault against six young women.

Matturie, 41, of Eccles, Salford, denies six counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault relating to seven young women.

The trial continues.