A PROFESSIONAL cricketer accused of raping a sleeping woman in a WhatsApp sex game told a court she instigated sex. Alex Hepburn said the alleged victim “enjoyed” their encounter and claimed she came onto him at his teammate’s Worcester flat. The 23-year-old, who formerly played for the England Lions team, is accused of taking advantage […]
A PROFESSIONAL cricketer accused of raping a sleeping woman in a WhatsApp sex game told a court she instigated sex.
Alex Hepburn said the alleged victim “enjoyed” their encounter and claimed she came onto him at his teammate’s Worcester flat.
The 23-year-old, who formerly played for the England Lions team, is accused of taking advantage of the young woman after she had sex with Joe Clarke, 22.
Worcester Crown Court heard previously Hepburn was in a sexual conquest competition – logged on the Stat Chat group.
Participants would receive points for sleeping with a new woman, nicknamed “freshies”, and rate women they encountered based on factors like performance in bed and race.
The court heard Hepburn had slept with around 20 different women the previous year and the night of the incident was the start of a new campaign between the friends.
He claimed in court he found the alleged victim in bed as Clarke was passed out in the bathroom, and she began to kiss him before they slept together.
Australian-born Hepburn, who came to the UK aged 17 to join Worcestershire CCC, told the jury the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had her eyes open and was “engaging” in the acts.
He denied believing he was “God’s gift to women” and told the court he was “embarrassed” by the sexual conquest game on WhatsApp.
The cricketer told the court: “I believed what was happening was consensual sex. I did not rape her.”
Jurors heard the woman pushed him off her during sex and asked “where’s Joe?”
He added: “She said ‘what are you doing?’ to which I replied ‘What do you mean?’
“I was confused why she had asked me that question. It was no different to a normal sexual encounter.”
Hepburn’s defence barrister, Michelle Heeley QC, asked him: “Had it occurred to you that she might have thought she was having sex with Joe as opposed to you?” He said it hadn’t.
The court previously heard the alleged victim, had earlier had consensual sex with Clarke, who she had met in a nightclub.
Hepburn admitted he sent “disgusting, horrible and embarrassing” WhatsApp messages while setting the rules of the sexual conquest competition.
During cross-examination, Hepburn told prosecutor Miranda Moore QC that up to six cricketers had taken part in the so-called stat game in 2016.
Asked to give a “ball-park” figure for his score the previous year, Hepburn told the court: “20.”
At the conclusion of her questioning, Ms Moore said to Hepburn: “Is not this evening the culmination of this unpleasant game you were playing that night – coming back and thinking you will get one over on Joe?”
Hepburn answered: “No.”
The court heard Hepburn had consumed around 15 units of alcohol with his friends in nightclubs Sin and Bushwhackers in the city centre on the night of March 31, 2017.
Hepburn, currently unemployed, denies two counts of rape.
The trial continues.
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