A man accused of being involved in a sex attack on a woman in a car park after allegedly following her through Ipswich town centre with his friend has denied having any contact with her.

Giving evidence during his trial at Ipswich Crown Court, George-Hari Constantinescu told the court that he had not noticed the woman walking alone in the same direction as him and his friend Danut Gheorghe in the early hours of the morning and denied touching her in any way.

“I didn’t do anything to her. I didn’t have any contact with her. I didn’t touch her and I didn’t notice her that night,” he said.

Gheorghe and Constantinescu, both 30, of Farnham Road, Blaxhall, deny attempted rape, and an alternative charge of sexual assault.

The court has heard that the alleged victim was walking along Rope Walk just before 3.30am on February 25 when she heard two men running behind her.

One of them allegedly put his hands over her mouth and she was bundled into a car park.

During the alleged attack she suffered injuries to her head and face and when she came round after losing consciousness she was naked from the waist down.

Prosecutor Andrew Jackson told the jury: “It is the prosecution’s case that in those early hours these defendants were predatory rapists.

“They followed (the woman) into that road, and there attacked and intended to rape her. They say that they were not the men who attacked and tried to rape (the woman). Therefore the central issue you are going to have to resolve in this trial is whether or not you are sure that in the case of each of these defendants that they were responsible for that attempted rape.”

Mr Jackson said the victim’s handbag and its contents had not been touched so the motive could not have been robbery.

During his evidence Constantinescu told the court he had come to the UK from a small village in Romania in March 2016 to work.

He denied that he and Gheorghe had hidden behind a garden wall while following the alleged victim of the attempted rape and claimed they had stopped there to urinate.

The trial continues on Monday.