A joiner who lit deodorant spray near a sleeping apprentice and later drew penises on him has told a jury he thought the teenager would find it funny.

Joseph Richard Rose said his actions had just been 'harmless banter" and writing and drawing on the 17-year-old's body and face with a marker pen had been a "moment of madness," but his behaviour had not been bullying, demeaning, humiliating or dangerous.

He told the jury at York Crown Court yesterday: "I thought he would see the funny side of it. He had a great sense of humour."

Rose, 21, of Main Street, Bubwith, said he himself had been the subject of "pranks" early in his career, such as salt being put in his coffee and his boots being tied together.

Rose is one of four men who have gone on trial, alleged to have carried out a sustained campaign of bullying against a teenage boy between July 2014 and April 2015. Rose denies a charge of putting the apprentice in fear of violence by harassment.

Andrew Addison, 31, of Westbourne Road, Selby, Christopher Jackson, 21, of Acorn Close, Barlby, and site manager Alex Puchir, 37, of Glenallan Drive, Edinburgh, all deny a charge of religiously aggravated assault. Addison also denies putting the apprentice in fear of violence by harassment and assault.

The court has heard that the boy was an apprentice with Direct Interior Solutions, a shopfitting firm, and was required to travel across Yorkshire, the South East and London to work on shop refittings when the incidents took place.

Rose said yesterday he had returned to his digs in London after drinking about eight pints of beer and some vodka and gone into the teenager's room, picked up a deodorant spray lighter in one hand and a lighter in the other. He had sprayed the deodorant and set fire to it in mid-air with the lighter, producing a small flame, and the apprentice put his duvet over his head.

"He didn't seem bothered," said Rose, but added that the apprentice had seemed shocked the next day and he had apologised.

On another occasion he had returned to digs, again intoxicated, and drawn penises and crosses on him, but he denied they were like noughts and crosses and not crucifix crosses.

The next day the boy was 'a bit shocked,' he said. "I felt guilty. I felt sorry. I apologised and he accepted my apology."

The jury was told earlier in the trial that on another occasion, the boy was tied to a cross, which was suspended a metre above the ground in a way that resembled a crucifixion.

Jackson said he had held the apprentice's legs as he was tied to the cross with ducting tape, and the teenager had been laughing throughout. He said it was a prank and he would have stopped if the apprentice had objected.

He said he himself had been tied to a cross on a previous occasion and had treated it as a joke. "I wasn't bothered," he said " I was laughing and joking."

The trial continues.