CHERRIES player Steve Cook said he thought it was a joke when police first arrested him on charges of sexual assault and voyeurism, a court heard.

Cook took to the stand at the Old Bailey and said he was "shocked" when officers first arrested him in January 2012, in relation to an alleged incident in a Brighton hotel room. The 22-year-old denied exposing himself in the Jurys Inn hotel room of Brighton and Hove Albion players Anton Rodgers and Ben Sampayo or encouraging his then teammates to expose themselves.

Cook and Albion players Anton Rodgers, George Barker and Lewis Dunk deny sexual assault.

Cook, Rodgers and Barker also deny voyeurism.

Cook had joined other Albion players as they celebrated the club's victory in the Sussex Senior Cup on July 16, 2011.

After becoming separated from his teammates in a chip shop, he met up with them and a girl he claims to have never met before at Brighton Railway Station before walking to the nearby Jurys Inn Hotel.

He then went to a hotel room shared by two of his teammates where he said he bedded down on the floor of the hotel room while a young woman climbed into the bed between two other footballers.

He said he kept all his clothes on except for his trainers because he was not expecting to stay the whole night in the room.

He denied encouraging one of his teammates to expose himself or take a picture.

He also said he could not remember a picture being taken of George Barker posing by the young woman with his initials in shaving foam sprayed on her leg, which was later found on Barker's phone.

Richard Barton, prosecuting, said: "That shaving foam incident must have been quite memorable?"

Steve Cook replied: "You would have thought so but till this day I cannot remember that happening."

When asked by his defence counsel Sonia Woodley QC about his reaction to being arrested in January 2012, he said: "I was shocked.

"I thought it was a joke being played on me."

The trial continues.