A young woman was raped in an alleyway by a stranger as she walked home alone after a night out in King's Lynn, a court heard.

The woman, who had been drinking that evening, was walking on her own after an argument with her boyfriend, when she was approached by Gareth Thorpe, 32,

Marc Brown, prosecuting, told a Norwich Crown Court jury, it is alleged that Thorpe raped the woman, who was 22 at the time, in an alleyway near Highgate Infant School, on Gaywood Road, despite her repeatedly telling him "no."

Mr Brown said: "He was to her a complete stranger."

He said because the woman had been drinking she did not have a full recollection of events but said she was "manhandled" by Thorpe who pulled her tights down and raped her.

He said that she told him no and said: "It was just not once but a number of times she told him to leave her alone. She did not want sex with a stranger."

Mr Brown said: "She recalls crying and running away."

He said because the woman had been drinking she did not have a full recollection of events but woke up in hospital with cuts and bruising as well as a broken tooth. Her tights had also been ripped.

He said: "She was in quite a state."

Mr Brown said that when Thorpe was arrested he said that he had done nothing wrong.

He said that Thorpe claimed the woman had started grinding herself against him after they had met walking along the road and said the sex had been consensual.

Mr Brown told the jury: "Whether or not it was consensual is a matter entirely for you to decide."

Thorpe, of James Scott Close, Downham Market, has denied raping the woman in the early hours of January 27, last year.

In interview, the woman told police that she had been drinking on an empty stomach so she had felt in a "state" and said as she was walking along she felt someone was behind her.

She said she remembered being in an alleyway with a man and said she was grabbed and her tights pulled down before she was raped: "All I remember is being there and then this happened,"

She said the next thing she can remember is waking up in hospital and speaking to a police officer.

She said she had not wanted sex with the man, who she had never met before.

The trial continues.