Kevin Cobb denied killing a nurse during a failed sex attack and raping female patients after drugging them.

Cobb, 38, an accident and emergency nurse at St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey, Surrey, went into the witness box for the first time during his Old Bailey trial on 11 charges, including one of manslaughter.

Henry Grunwald, defending, told the jury that Cobb, of Yateley, Hampshire, denied all the charges. Cobb denied giving anyone the stupefying drug Midazolam with the intention to rape or indecently assault them and he denied being involved in the death of nurse Susan Annis.

Miss Annis, of Colwell Road, Haywards Heath, died in November 1996 at a nurses' home at the Royal Brompton Hospital, west London, after her heart stopped. The prosecution says Cobb spiked her cider with the drug.

Cobb, wearing a dark green suit and yellow shirt, told the jury he had been a nurse since 1982. The accused sat with his hands crossed as he spoke about Miss Annis's last hours which they spent together after a long shift during a training placement in London.

Asked by Mr Grunwald if there was any physical or sexual attraction between them, he said: "No. I think she was a very nice girl but both of us were involved with other people so it never really came up."

Cobb said Miss Annis wanted to watch the film The Madness of King George and they went back to his room because he had a portable television. They ate pizza and drank cider in his room while she watched television shortly before she died.

Cobb said Miss Annis fell asleep after complaining about having a hectic weekend and a busy shift. But he roused her after half and hour to go to her room. He said: "I didn't think it was a good idea for her to sleep overnight in my room. I was recently married."

Later he became concerned about her because he had not heard her moving around in her room, he said. When he went to Miss Annis's room across the hall, he found her lying on the floor and tried to resuscitate her.

He said: "I did my best to pull myself together and put myself in a professional mode and do what I could to help her."

Cobb said he did not know Miss Annis, a 31-year-old junior sister from Crawley Hospital, had the mild heart condition SVT. He said he had only seen Midazolam used once and his knowledge of it at the time was "nil".

Earlier, his counsel told the jury it was "not unknown" for doctors and nurses to use drugs to help them sleep. The trial continues.