Accused Derbyshire fire chief Sean Frayne: I was a fool
Derbyshire's chief fire officer broke down in tears as he told jurors he was not a rapist and had "never harmed anyone in my life".
Sean Frayne, 48, is accused of raping a woman in a pub in 2006 while his wife was in another room.
He said he had been foolish, but the sex was consensual and that she had "kissed him passionately".
Mr Frayne, of Fixby, Huddersfield, was suspended from duty when he was arrested for rape in February 2013.
The 48-year-old told the trial he had been drinking in the pub and followed the woman out of the bar into another room.
'I am a fool'
There she kissed him passionately and instigated sex, he said, which was brief.
He told the hearing that afterwards she had said "we shouldn't have done that" while his wife was in the building.
Asked why he did it, Mr Frayne said: "I am a fool. I've never experienced anything like that in my life... a full blown come-on."
The court previously heard a friend of the victim wrote two letters to Mr Frayne without her knowledge after she confided in him.
Mr Frayne showed his wife the letter because he believed he was being blackmailed and had received other anonymous emails attacking him over changes he made to the fire service.
The couple went to confront the woman, who denied sending the notes and said to him: "You know what happened that evening."
Asked in court why he replied "no" to her, he said it was because he had not told his wife they had had sex.
But he later had to admit what he had done when a second letter was sent.
Mr Frayne became tearful in court when he described the moment he was arrested early on a Saturday morning, saying he was "terrified" and it "wrecked my life".
Asked by his barrister if he raped the woman, he said: "No. I have spent 30 years in service protecting people, putting in processes in place to keep people safe.
"I have never hurt anyone in my life. I should have not accepted the advances she made to me."
The trial continues.