A married executive was said to have a crush on the young secretary he is accused of raping, a court heard.

Seeboard office manager Kevin Newnham, 41, allegedly followed the woman to the women's toilet in an office and forced his way into her cubicle to carry out the attack.

Jonathan Davies, prosecuting at Hove Crown Court, accused Newnham of having a crush on his employee.

He said: "Did it cross your mind that you could go back to her flat and have sex with her?"

Newnham, of Chorley Avenue, Saltdean, said: "There is no way I would have sex with anyone apart from my wife."

Mr Davies asked Newnham if he had pushed the woman against the wall when she went for a cigarette, holding her hands above her head, before following her inside the toilets and assaulting her.

Newnham, who denies a charge of rape, said: "That is not true. I did not leave my desk all afternoon."

He said he had been busy on the phone and writing emails on the day of the alleged rape last September.

The jury earlier heard how Newnham had hugged and kissed the secretary on the forehead in the past as a friend.

Narita Bahra, defending, asked Newnham: "What was your relationship with this person?"

Newnham said: "We did not see each other out of work but we were very friendly."

He said he had taken part in sexual banter that afternoon with other colleagues, including the secretary.

He said: "She was laughing and joking and joining in."

Mr Davies told the court the secretary had compiled a price list of people in the office she would have slept with and how much it would have cost them but Newnham was not on it.

He said: "When she said it was because you were in a league of your own did you think that put you in a special position?"

Newnham said he did not.

Another colleague was working with the secretary immediately after the alleged rape.

She said the secretary could at times be distracted.

But she added: "This time she was on the ball and was happy and chirpy."

She told the court how she sometimes thought Newnham, as the boss, made inappropriate comments to the secretary, although she said the secretary sometimes instigated them.

The colleague said: "He treated her as his teacher's pet."

The court heard how colleagues described the secretary as flighty, naive, immature and emotional. Newnham had been described as a friendly, family man, a good manager, professional, supportive and easy to talk to.

The case continues.