James Holder, a co-founder of the clothing firm Superdry, has been found guilty of raping a woman after a night out in the Gloucestershire town of Cheltenham.
Gloucester crown court heard Holder, 54, had been due to get a taxi back to his mansion in the Cotswolds with a male friend. Instead, the pair got into the victim’s taxi and went to her flat, where the fashion boss raped her.
James Haskell, prosecuting, said the woman asked Holder to stop but he did not, even when she began crying. He said she was more vulnerable because she was intoxicated.
The court heard there was no dispute that sexual activity had taken place between the businessman and the woman, but Holder insisted it was consensual while the woman said she had been raped.
In a police interview, Holder said he was “old-school and chivalrous”. Haskell asked the defendant in court: “Did you behave in a chivalrous manner towards her that night?” Holder replied: “I did, yes. I looked after her throughout the whole evening.”
The barrister asked: “Are you somebody who is used to doing precisely what they want to?” Holder replied: “No, I am not, actually.”
Questioned over why he left the flat a short time after the rape, Holder replied: “I had been out for much longer than I anticipated and I needed to go home. I let myself out. She was asleep on the bed.”
Michelle Heeley KC, defending, asked the victim in court: “This was a drunken sexual encounter that you regret?” She replied: “Incorrect.”
Holder, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, had denied charges of rape and assault by penetration in May 2022.
