A woman who told a jury she was raped by a man in her hotel room has denied telling him she was working as a prostitute.

The 25-year-old IT consultant was staying at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, on Brighton seafront, in November last year when she was allegedly raped during a two-hour ordeal.

William Steward, 24, of no fixed address, has denied four charges of rape at Lewes Crown Court.

The woman, from London, told the jury she was woken by banging on the door of her sixth-floor room at 4am by a man who forced his way in.

She begged him not to rape her but said he called her a prostitute and a "dirty bitch."

He repeatedly threatened to kill her and she suffered bruising and a bite mark in the attack.

During cross-examination, the woman became so upset the trial had to be adjourned for a short time while she recovered.

She denied she had met Steward earlier that night or the evening before in the city centre, or that she had told him she was working as a prostitute.

Jeremy Gold, QC, defending Steward, said she met the defendant at the junction of West Street and Boyces Street.

He had tried to chat her up and she told him she was "working", which he took to mean she was a prostitute.

But the woman denied ever meeting him. She said: "I have never spoken to that man sitting in the dock before in my life."

Mr Gold said to her: "I suggest you gave to him a piece of paper with your room number on."

She replied: "Absolutely not. No way. I never met him before. I did not give him a piece of paper with my room number. I am absolutely 100 per cent certain of that."

The woman said her ordeal ended when she persuaded Steward to go with her to the hotel reception where he could get a light for his cigarette. She promised she would not tell police. After giving him £10 for cigarettes and a taxi, he left the hotel.

She immediately alerted police and Steward was arrested minutes later.

She said: "I felt hatred, pity, disgust and relief. I spent two hours of my life in which I thought I was going to die.

"I never wanted to see him again. I felt pity for him because he believed I would never tell anyone. I thought 'How stupid you are because I am going to get you for this'."

The trial continues.