Lawyers for William Wilkinson, 31, a victims campaigner and former DUP representative in Ballymena, Co Antrim said he emphatically denied the sexual assault allegations.

He was released after a judge was told Willie Frazer, his boss in the group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR) was prepared to act as a surety.

Prosecutors said Wilkinson, of Tully Road, Portglenone, Co Antrim, was arrested last Thursday by police responding to a 999 call from a distressed woman.

Crown counsel David Reid told the court: "When police answered the phone they could hear someone shouting 'Get off me, get off me' but nothing further was said."

Officers traced the call to a house in the Co Londonderry area where the woman claimed Wilkinson raped her and then tried again to have sex with her, Mr Reid said.

The barrister added: "She told police she had scratched and bit the applicant and police would say he had injuries consistent with that.

"She said she again tried to use the telephone and said the applicant grabbed the phone and bent her fingers back in doing so. It was then that police arrived."

Mr Reid, who confirmed bail was being opposed, told the court Wilkinson was interviewed at length and denied both alleged offences.

But urging Mr Justice Deeny to release his client, defence lawyer Andrew Moriarty described him as someone with "an acute sense of public duty".

Wilkinson, who quit the DUP over Ian Paisley's decision to share power at Stormont with Sinn Fein, still sits on Ballymena Borough Council as a United Unionist Coalition Party representative.

Mr Moriarty also emphasised his full-time role as project manager with FAIR and named the group's leader, Mr Frazer, as one of two people who would act as sureties.

Responding to what was allegedly heard over the phone, the barrister said Wilkinson maintained what happened was consensual.

"Thereafter there was an argument, and any physical harm done to himself was as a result of that argument which escalated from verbal to physical," Mr Moriarty claimed.

"The allegations are allegations that he would emphatically deny and he would find such allegations abhorrent."

Granting bail, Mr Justice Deeny ordered Wilkinson to have no contact with the alleged victim and to report to police once a week.