Superdry co-founder ‘raped woman as she sobbed and begged him to stop after following her home on night out’
THE co-founder of Superdry raped a woman in her home as she sobbed and pleaded with him to stop, a court heard.
James Holder, 54, had been on a night out in Cheltenham when he and a pal hopped in the same taxi as the woman, jurors heard.
Despite telling the driver the men would be going to a different address, they both allegedly followed her into her flat.
Gloucester Crown Court heard the woman got the pair another drink and assumed they would go home but Holder fell asleep on her bed.
She then went to sleep on the living room floor as the friend had taken the sofa, it was said.
James Haskell, prosecuting, said: “She told the police she must have drifted off to sleep herself and the next thing she was aware was James Holder appearing in the doorway of her living room.
“She told him it was late and he should go back to sleep, and told him to go back to the room he came from, and he replied, ‘Can’t you show me?’.
“She got up to show him back to the room he was sleeping in. James Holder told her that she should come into the bedroom too.
“She said no, she was tired, and she said he pulled her on the bed.”
Jurors were told the woman started to cry as the fashion boss allegedly groped and raped her and she told him to stop.
She managed to escape from him and left the bedroom, and it was not long before Holder left, it was said.
The woman later reported the May 7, 2022, incident to the police and gave a video-recorded interview to detectives.
Mr Haskell said: “She described herself in the police interview as quite drunk that night.
“You will hear some voice note messages she sent to her friends and you might think she was pretty drunk by the end of the night.
“The prosecution say that because of her intoxication she was more vulnerable.
“It is the prosecution case that James Holder exploited that vulnerability.”
The court heard Holder accepts engaging in sexual activity with the woman but says it was consensual.
Holder, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, denies charges of rape and assault by penetration.
The fashion boss co-founded Superdry with Julian Dunkerton at a market stall in Cheltenham in 2003 but resigned in 2016.
