Alex Hepburn, 23, pictured, denies raping a woman in his teammate’s room and claims the alleged victim instigated sex with him
A cricketer accused of raping a sleeping woman today claimed his alleged victim came on to him and ‘enjoyed’ sex with him that ‘she instigated’.
Alex Hepburn, 23, is accused of sexually assaulting the woman as she slept in his flatmate Joe Clarke’s room in Worcester in 2017.
The woman, in her 20s, met Mr Clarke, 22, in a nightclub before going back to his flat in Worcester where she had consensual sex with him. She claims Mr Clarke later passed out and she awoke to find Hepburn raping her.
Australian-born Hepburn, who came to the UK aged 17, denied believing he was ‘God’s gift to women’ and told the court he was ’embarrassed’ by a sexual conquest game he was part of on WhatsApp.
He admitted he had taken part in a similar game a year earlier alongside six other cricketers, during which he had slept with 20 women, while the court heard his nickname was ‘The Battery’ because his ‘performance lasted so long’.
Speaking at Worcester Crown Court today, Hepburn claimed he went into the room after Mr Clarke left and the woman, who cannot be named, began kissing him before they had ‘enjoyable sex’.
The cricketer initially told the jury at his retrial that the woman performed a sex act on him, but later said he had ‘no memory of it’ after the prosecution said he had never mentioned it before.
Hepburn told the court the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had her eyes open and was ‘engaging’ as they had sex on a mattress.
Discussing the night in question, Hepburn said: ‘When I got back to the flat, Joe was sleeping in the bathroom. He was up against the wall.
‘I got undressed and got into bed and that’s when I realised there was a woman in the bed.
‘She rolled towards me. She made eye contact and she kissed me. I could see that her eyes were open. I recognised her. I had met her before.
‘She instigated the kisses. She kissed me on the lips. This was a normal kiss.’
He told the court the woman then performed a sex act on him for 10 minutes and ‘seemed to be enjoying it’.
Hepburn told the jury they then had full sex before her mood changed suddenly.
He said: ‘At one point she said “What are you doing?”. I replied “Why, what do you mean?’.
‘I was confused why she had asked that question. She said “Where’s Joe? Where’s Joe?” and pushed me off.
‘I did not understand what was happening at that point. It was no different to a normal sexual encounter.
‘I had not asked her for permission but we started kissing. I did not see the need to because she kissed me. I was trying to continue having sex.
‘When she pushed me away, I stopped. She went into the en-suite. I did not see what she did. I presumed she was on the phone.
‘She stayed in there for a few minutes. She seemed distressed and called me a sick b*****d and said I had raped her.’
He added: ‘My reaction was shock. I had not raped her. She continued to get dressed. She put on her clothes and she left the bedroom.
‘I heard her opening and closing doors in the flat. I went out of the bedroom to see what was going on.
‘She was talking to Joe for a matter of seconds. I went back into the bedroom, sat in bed and tried to comprehend what happened.
‘I did not see her again after that. I saw Joe when he came back into the room.
‘He questioned me and told me what she had said. He asked me “Have you raped her?” and I denied it.
‘The police arrived within minutes of the cricket boys getting back to the flat and I was arrested straight away.’
Mr Hepburn, pictured at court with girlfriend Lucy Street, admitted he was ashamed to be part of a ‘WhatsApp sexual conquest game’ with his friends
Hepburn later admitted he had no recollection of the woman initiating the oral sex after being pushed by prosecutor Miranda Moore QC.
She said: ‘That’s not what you said in the last trial. Why have you changed your evidence?’
Hepburn replied: ‘I am not sure. I am unsure why I told the jury that. I was about seven out of ten on the drunk scale when I got back to the flat. I was drunk but knew what I was doing.’
The court heard Ex-England Lions stars Hepburn and Mr Clarke were both part of the ‘intense laddish’ group called ‘Stat Chat’ which rated women on their performances in bed.
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 gave himself the boastful nickname ‘The Battery’ in reference to how long his sexual encounters lasted and joked about his friend raping women, the court heard.
The jury was told the cricketer and his friends posed the messages on WhatsApp as part of a sex competition to see who could sleep with the most women.
On one occasion, Hepburn wrote: ‘What are the rules of a reheat [term for someone they have previously slept with]?
Another friend responded: ‘No reheats.’
Hepburn replied: ‘F*** I’m in trouble.’
Hepburn later told Clarke: ‘It’s always me bringing birds back and you raping them.
‘My nickname is ‘The Battery’ because my s******g just goes on for hours and hours.’
Hepburn today described the messages as ‘disgusting’ and said they didn’t represent who he was as a person.
Hepburn said he 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.
Hepburn added: ‘Now I am embarrassed by it. I wasn’t embarrassed at the time because it was a private chat. I thought [the competition] was fun.
‘We did not think we were god’s gift to women. We didn’t really make fun of someone who got with someone who wasn’t considered to be good looking.’
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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