A man accused of sexually abusing a woman who had been advertised for sex by her then-husband wore a balaclava because he did not want to "star in a porn film", his barrister has told a court.
Connor Sanderson-Doyle, 32, of Swindon, has denied sexual assault by penetration and sexual touching in June 2016 against Joanne Young. The 49-year-old mother of three has waived her right to anonymity.
Background to the case
Her ex-husband, Philip Young, has pleaded guilty to multiple charges of drugging and sexually abusing her during a 13-year period at their home in Swindon, Wiltshire. Four other men are on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of sexually abusing Mrs Young.
The court has heard that Sanderson-Doyle responded to an advert placed by Young on Craigslist to have sex with his wife.
Defence arguments
In her speech to the jury, Dana Bilan, defending Sanderson-Doyle, said the allegations against him had been "life-changing", causing him to lose his job on a nuclear defence project for the Ministry of Defence.
She said that apart from a caution for an offence of criminal damage from 10 years ago, he had no other convictions and police searches of his home found no other evidence against him.
She said that, before going to the Youngs' house, Sanderson-Doyle had sent messages asking what both Mrs Young and Young wanted from the encounter which said he was only interested in consensual sex.
Ms Bilan added: "Mr Sanderson-Doyle was a naive young man answering the seemingly legal advert, and everything he said in the conversation showed he had no intention whatsoever of committing a sexual offence."
The barrister said that Sanderson-Doyle wore a balaclava during the incident because he knew that Young would be filming it, and he did not want his face to be seen as he did not want to "star in a porn film".
Ms Bilan said Sanderson-Doyle had not been aware that Young had drugged his wife and that she had not consented to the encounter.
She said: "He didn't know what was really happening. Who did? Someone must have known, someone orchestrated it, someone organised it. Who was that? Philip Young."
Further evidence and other defendants
Ms Bilan said that Sanderson-Doyle at one point apologised to Mrs Young when he felt he had hurt her. She added: "Who has heard of a sex offender who apologised to his victim?"
She said that he then stopped because he was concerned whether she was consenting to the encounter and "because there's a clear line, he realised at that moment that she was not comfortable and it was stopped".
The other three defendants in the trial are Norman Macksoni, 48, of Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, who has denied one count of rape; Richard Wilkins, 62, of Toothill, Swindon, Wiltshire, who has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and one of assault by penetration. Mohammed Hassan, 38, of Swindon, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual touching of Mrs Young.
Rebecca Fairbairn, representing Wilkins, said that he had been "naive" when he had answered Young's advert.
Wilkins claimed to his barrister that Young had told him that his wife would be pretending to be asleep when the defendant came to have sex with her at their home. She said the prosecution had no evidence that Young had not told him this.
Ms Fairbairn said that he believed that she would be play-acting but consensual to the sexual activity.
Young, 50, has pleaded guilty to a total of 56 charges, and a sixth defendant, Dean Hamilton, 47, of Street, Somerset, has admitted one charge of assault by penetration, two of sexual assault and one of rape. The trial continues.
