A MAN who said he was raped by former Commons deputy speaker Nigel Evans at the Ribble Valley MP's home told a jury he had not given a false account to ‘save his conscience’.

The MP's account of events was that the pair kissed downstairs and that the young man willingly went to bed with him and they had consensual sex.

Giving his third day of evidence yesterday, the complainant denied he and the MP had consensual sex and he had ‘regretted it ever since’.

He told the jury what he did regret was ‘my cowardice’ at allowing himself to get into the situation where he ended up in bed with Evans.

Peter Wright, QC, defending, put it to him that he had woken up in Evans's bed and felt regret at what had he had consented to.

The complainant said: "I regret my cowardice. I did feel angry, I did not feel responsible for Nigel's behaviour."

Mr Wright focused on how the rape complainant had relayed the events of the night to others.

The alleged victim said he had 'escaped' to the bathroom several times during the night to avoid the MP's advances in bed.

He texted a friend, another of the complainants in the case, to say "Help me".

In one of the messages he mentioned that he had been 'dragged' into the bedroom.

The complainant told the jury that had not actually happened.

He said: "I was saving face. I was a bit dramatic in the texts, as people can be."

Mr Wright said: "For dramatic effect?"

The complainant replied: "Yes. I don't see why it's important."

The barrister continued: "Dramatic effect tends to be a tool of persuasion, doesn't it, to make more convincing what is being asserted, for greater impact with the audience?"

The complainant said: "Like I said, I was saving face."

Just over a month after the dinner party, the complainant spoke on the phone to a police officer based at the Palace of Westminster.

Mr Wright went through the statement made by the female officer of the account he had given her.

One section read: "The suspect followed him upstairs, pushing him into the room, saying 'Stay here'."

Mr Wright said: "Did you tell the officer that he pushed you into the room?"

The complainant replied: "I honestly don't know."

The barrister said: "Or is this for dramatic effect?"

The complainant said: "I can't remember."

Mr Wright said: "Did you tell the officer he said 'Stay here'?"

The complainant said: "I can't remember... I have not got a perfect memory.

Mr Wright said: "The officer went on to say 'He was pushed on to the bed and promised the offer of a job after he left university'."

The complainant said: "No, I did not say that."

Evans denies one rape, two indecent assaults and six sexual assaults.

The trial continues on Monday.