A police sergeant has denied allegations he raped a woman who was too drunk to consent after a night out, telling the jury he believed her body language had indicated her willingness. Ben Lister, 36, acknowledged he had sex with the woman when they were both drunk but said he believed it was consensual at the time and was not told otherwise. “I know what consent is. I don’t recall a conversation in the buildup, can I have sex with her. That’s not a conversation I would have,” he told Bradford crown court. “It’s in body language, the moment with someone, the buildup, the conversation. I wouldn’t just start to have sex with someone.” During the hearing on Thursday, the West Yorkshire police officer was asked by his barrister, Laura Nash, whether the woman had asked him to stop. “No,” he replied. She asked him whether the complainant had indicated she did not want to engage in sexual activity, whether she pushed him away or appeared unwilling to participate. Again, he answered in the negative. Prosecutors have told the jury their case is that the woman did not consent to sexual contact with him and “for the bulk of it she wasn’t in any fit state to do so because of intoxication”. The jury was told the woman went to police in January 2020 and Lister was arrested and interviewed. Lister has denied one count of rape and one count of assault by penetration. Lister, who was a constable at the time of the incident in August 2016 but was a sergeant by the time he was arrested and suspended, said everyone on the night out had been drinking when they arrived at a friend’s house. He said “everyone was drunk” but that “no one was out of it. No one was falling over. No one needed to be helped.” He said the group were laughing and joking before everyone, except him and the complainant, went upstairs to sleep. Lister described how he and the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, began kissing. Shortly afterwards, he said, they then moved on to the floor, where they had sex. The defendant said he remembered withdrawing before ejaculating as there was “giggling between us because of the awkwardness of cleaning up”. Lister was asked about a later Facebook message from the woman saying: “Did I sleep with you last night?” and why he had replied: “No.” The defendant said he had just split up with his partner, who was also a police officer, and wanted to get back with her, but feared she might find out about this one-night stand. The jury has heard how the complainant became pregnant, had a child and DNA analysis showed Lister was the father. He told the jury: “I didn’t see how it could’ve been. My recollection of pulling out, for want of a better phrase, I didn’t see how it could be. It never crossed my mind that I could be the father.” He later added: “I’m the father of that child, I accept that.” The case continues.