Lawrence Jones trial: Woman tells court she felt 'helpless' and 'really out of it' after alleged rape
10.11.2023 - 17:33
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A woman who alleges she was drugged and raped by UKFast founder Lawrence Jones told a jury she felt ‘helpless’ and ‘really out of it’ following the alleged incident. Giving evidence at his trial, the woman - referred to in press reports as Woman B - strongly denied being attracted to Mr Jones and disagreed with suggestions they had a consensual sexual relationship.
Mr Jones, 55, of Brooks Drive in Hale Barns, denies allegations he 'stupefied' two women with drugs and raped them separately at his flat in Salford in 1993. On day four of the trial at Manchester Crown Court, jurors were shown the remainder of the police interview with Woman B.
Asked if she remembered what she did after the incident, she said she couldn’t recall. “There was no discussion, no argument, I didn’t leave the flat, he didn’t leave the flat, I don’t think,” she said. “It’s almost like it didn’t happen, but it did happen.”
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She said Mr Jones’ behaviour changed towards her after the alleged incident, saying it became ‘really obvious [she] wasn’t welcome’. The woman told officers that before the alleged rape they ‘used to get on better’.
“We never went out drinking together or dining together,” she said. She said she remembered him being a ‘big pot head’, smoking a ‘lot of weed’.
Asked by the interviewing officer how she felt after the alleged incident, she said she was ‘really out of it’. “I was really floppy, my body was really quite heavy. I didn’t really jump up or move quickly or get dressed quickly, nothing like that,” she told officers.
“All the things you think you’re supposed to