A 50-YEAR-OLD gardener accused of assaulting a customer told a court the alleged victim “gave me permission” to touch her.

Peter Barney said the woman consented to sexual activity and denied doing anything wrong.

“We started kissing and we were holding hands” he told a jury of seven women and five men at Bournemouth Crown Court. “We were both getting out of hand and she said stop so I stopped immediately.”

Barney, of Verwood Road, Three Legged Cross, told the court the woman had also kissed him on the day before the alleged offence was committed in October last year.

“It just happened” he said. “It was just a normal thing. She said if her husband found out he would kill me and kill her too.”

Barney, who lives with his wife and 10-year-old son, denies one charge of assault by penetration. The court has been told Barney asked the woman if he could use her bathroom, then pushed her on to her bed, covered her mouth with his and assaulted her.

In a video shown to jurors, the alleged victim said: “When he pushed me I knew something was wrong – he was cruel and I was scared.”

The court heard other people were doing gardening work at the alleged victim’s home at the time and she said: “There was all this noise outside with chainsaws going. Nobody would’ve heard anything.”

The jury has been told that Barney was convicted of an offence of indecent assault in March 2000. He had offered to do gardening work at his victim’s home before assaulting her.

The trial continues.