A former flatmate of Russell Brand has told a jury that “sex was a huge preoccupation” for the entertainer.

Andrew Dobson, who was in Bournemouth where Brand is alleged to have raped a woman, has been giving evidence on the fourth day of the trial.

Brand, 51, faces seven charges in the trial at Southwark Crown Court – three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault and one of indecent assault.

The allegations, made by six female complainants, span a 10-year period between 1999 and 2009. He denies the charges.

On Friday, the jury heard from witnesses associated with the complainant who gave evidence on Thursday.

The woman alleged Russell Brand raped her in a hotel room in Bournemouth in 1999, after they met while she was attending the Labour Party conference.

Dobson told the court on Friday he first met Brand around 1999, and wrote music for a fringe event Brand was part of at the conference.

Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC asked Dobson how he would describe Brand’s character as he got to know him before he was famous.

Dobson told the court Brand was a “very vibrant character, very egotistical”.

“I would say lively,” he continued. “Sort of quite demanding and persuasive. I think erratic would be maybe a slightly better term.”

Dobson also told the court that “sex was a huge preoccupation for him”, referring to Brand.

He said he recalled a couple of nights when “clearly the pursuit of getting somebody in bed would be a preoccupation” for Brand.

The jury heard that Dobson was staying in the same guesthouse with Brand and other cast members.

The morning after Brand is alleged to have raped a woman, he returned to the place where some of the cast had been staying, the jury heard.

Asked by the prosecutor to describe the “circumstances of how he came home”, Dobson replied: “My primary recollection is very hurried and rushed… I recall Russell coming in and suddenly an urgency we had to leave, things being really hurried”.

The prosecutor asked the witness: “Where did urgency come from?”

Dobson replied: “I can’t recall anything specific that was said. I only remember the atmosphere and panicked, urgent. Feeling tense and confusing.”

He went on to tell the jury there had been an “abrupt change of atmosphere” from what had been a “fun week” to an “abrupt change of tone”.

Under cross-examination by Brand’s barrister, Ian Winter KC, it was put to Dobson that in his witness statement he said that Russell Brand was one of few men he knew that women would swoon over.

Dobson replied: “He was certainly charismatic”.

Russell Brand denies all the charges and has pleaded not guilty.

He has said that any sexual contact if it happened, would have been consensual.

The trial continues and is expected to last for six weeks.