Rape-case soldier 'cried when arrested'

A soldier from Prince Harry’s regiment told jurors today how he burst into tears when he was arrested for raping a drunken teenage girl in a park.

Adam Bray, said he could not believe he was being accused of something he had always regarded as one of the “sickest things a bloke can do to a woman”.

The 21-year-old, who allegedly teamed up with another trooper to repeatedly abuse the youngster, told jurors the allegation left him “completely shocked and totally overwhelmed”.

The soldier, from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, said at no stage had their alleged victim been forced to do anything against her will as they took turns to have sex with her on a park bench.

Far from ever showing any signs of distress, the 17-year-old they had met a couple of hours earlier had actually been “happy and joyful”.

The only thing he had done wrong was simply hugging her goodbye as they abandoned her at 4am, without a thought as to how she was going to get home.

He told London’s Southwark Crown Court although his initial reaction to the first threesome of his life was “exciting, pretty mad, pretty extraordinary”, he now “regretted” it.

“It was a total mistake,” Bray added.

He and David Wright, 25, were arrested last September at their central London barracks.

Bray denies two counts of rape on September 30 2006, while his co-defendant pleads not guilty to three similar charges.

The court has heard the pair had downed a number of pints during a “merry” Friday night in London’s Soho.

Moments after leaving the last bar they visited at 3am they met the girl and her older sister, who left after a few minutes.

However the “drunk but merry” teenager not only stayed but accompanied them to Green Park, where she “actively” allowed them to take turns having sex with her.

But the Crown claims what happened was far from consensual.

Martin Hicks, QC, prosecuting, alleged the soldiers not only ignored the drunken youngster’s pleas to stop, but abused her so violently she suffered extensive vaginal and anal injuries.

Questioned by defence QC Sasha Wass, Bray accepted when he was arrested a few days later he burst into tears.

“I couldn’t believe I was being arrested for rape. To be accused of this is a complete shock. I always regard it as one of the sickest things a bloke can do to a woman and I was totally overwhelmed by it.

He added: “I had done nothing wrong.”