A former pub landlord has gone on trial charged with rape and sexual assault.

Kevin Tweedy, who ran the Artichoke in Magdalen Road in Norwich, is accused of raping a woman on July 20, 2015.

Tweedy, 66, whose address was given as the pub, is also accused of sexually assaulting a woman between January 1, 2013 and March 31 of the same year.

Tweedy denied both charges at an earlier hearing.

The Artichoke Pub in NorwichThe Artichoke Pub in Norwich (Image: Sonya Duncan)

Opening the case for the prosecution at King's Lynn Crown Court, Matthew Sorel-Cameron said the assault happened after Tweedy invited the woman to his home for a coffee after they had been drinking.

Mr Sorel-Cameron said he lunged at the woman while they were sitting on the sofa, pinned her down and tried to kiss her.

"What he did to her the prosecution say was a sexual assault," he added.

Mr Sorel-Cameron said Tweedy raped the woman on the night of July 20, 2015 after he had been drinking.

He said she made it clear she did not want to have sex but he continued.

Mr Sorel-Cameron said the defendant exchanged text messages with his victim afterwards, telling her in January, 2022: "I did not assault [you], I went too far OK, I went too far."

He said of the incident: "I should have stopped but I was very drunk."

Mr Sorel-Cameron said Tweedy denied both offences when interviewed by police in June, 2022.

But the prosecutor added the victim had given "a compelling account" of being sexually assaulted and raped after she came forward.

The jury of 10 men and two women were played extracts from the victim's police interview.

"He did apologise, it wasn't immediate, it was a few weeks afterwards," she said of the incident. "He said he should have stopped but he didn't.

"If any woman says stop, you need to stop. Stop means stop."

The trial, before Recorder Rouse KC, continues.