Lawrence Jones rape trial: Accuser tearfully tells jurors she may have been 'naive' but the impact 'has affected the rest of my life'
08.11.2023 - 19:29
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A woman who alleged she was drugged and raped by Lawrence Jones tearfully told a jury she may have been 'naive' to go back to his flat but that the impact 'has affected the rest of my life'.
The woman says the founder of UKFast, then a pianist in Manchester hotels, attacked her at his flat in Salford in 1993 after she had gone to his apartment for a drink.
Under cross-examination on the second day of his trial, the woman told a jury at Manchester Crown Court: “Maybe I was naive. Maybe I was f***ing stupid because what happened after that certainly has affected the rest of my life.”
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The defendant played the piano in hotels in Manchester at the time but went on to found tech firm UKFast.
Mr Jones, of Brooks Drive in Hale Barns, denies drugging and raping two young women at his flat in Salford in 1993. The prosecution say he 'stupefied' the women with unknown drugs before attacking them on separate occasions.
On the second day of the trial, one of his two accusers, who alleges Mr Jones attacked her after he had offered her a glass of red wine and a 'spliff' at his flat, was cross examined by Mr Jones' barrister Eleanor Laws KC.
The barrister questioned the woman - referred to in press reports of the trial as Woman A - as to why she had gone to Mr Jones’ flat voluntarily.
Woman A agreed she had gone there voluntarily and, becoming exasperated, she said: “Maybe I was naive. Maybe I was f***ing stupid because what happened after that certainly has affected the rest of my life.”
After a short break to compose herself, Woman A told the jury