'Paramedic impersonator' denies charge

A man accused of indecently assaulting a girl by posing as a paramedic has denied he was on a "power trip".

Gary Brooks, 30, from Loughborough, is charged with assaulting a 19-year-old girl she lay almost unconscious outside a bar.

He approached the stricken teenager, who had become violently ill at the Barracuda bar in Loughborough, Leicestershire, on 14 March.

But he denies any attack took place - insisting at Leicester Crown Court that he was qualified to help and was simply trying to assist the teenager.

I was trying to do my best Gary Brooks

Mr Brooks told a jury he was schooled in first aid and qualified as a "basic emergency medical technician" through an organisation called Paramedics UK.

But he said he had been prevented from becoming a fully qualified paramedic due to his dyslexia.

He said on the night of the incident he wore a reversible fluorescent jacket emblazoned with the words "emergency medical technician".

'Not impersonating'

But he insisted he had nothing else to wear and that he went over to his alleged victim only because he considered it his duty as a first-aider to help.

When Avik Mukherjee, prosecuting, suggested he had been on a "power trip", Mr Brooks said: "I didn't impersonate a paramedic. I was trying to do my best."

Mr Brooks denies indecent assault as a result of the incident.

The trial continues.