A former Oxford DPhil student accused of rape was arrested after he sent his victim an apology by text message a year after he allegedly carried out the attack, a court heard.

Sherman Ip, a physicist now enrolled at Warwick University, was charged with raping a young woman in his flat after she felt compelled to report his message, which read: “I am really sorry for raping you.”

Mr Ip has a masters degree from University College London and in 2015 moved to Oxford University for the first year of his DPhil as part of the Oxford-Warwick Statistics Programme.

Standing trial at Southwark Crown Court, he is alleged to have carried out the attack at his student flat in Euston Square, London, in May 2013.