'Arrogant' footballers sexually assaulted sleeping teenager, court hears
Four "arrogant" footballers including the son of a Premier League manager sexually assaulted a teenage girl while she was sleeping off a night on the town, the Old Bailey has been told.
Left to right, top: Anton Rodgers and George Barker; bottom: Steve Cook and Lewis Dunk Photo: PA
The four members of Brighton and Hove Albion football club, including Anton
Rodgers the son of Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, had been celebrating a
match win in July 2011 when they met the woman in a club.
Later, while she slept, the 19-year-old was photographed with the top of her
pink dress pulled down so the players could show their friends, jurors
heard.
The girl woke in a Brighton hotel room to find photographs of the assault on a
mobile phone, it was alleged.
Brighton and Hove Albion players Rodgers, 20, Lewis Dunk, 21, and George
Barker, 21, and former team-mate Steve Cook, 22, who now plays for
Bournemouth, deny sexual assault.
Rodgers, Barker and Cook deny voyeurism.
Richard Barton, prosecuting, said: "These were the actions of a group of
arrogant young men.
"They believed that as a result of their privileged position as professional footballers, they could do this to this young woman and she would not come forward and say what happened."
Mr Barton said the woman, through drink and tiredness, was unconscious. She had a gap of several hours in her memory but had some flashbacks.
The woman had woken in the morning to find herself in bed with Rodgers in a room where another player was asleep, the court heard.
Her bra had been removed and the top of her dress pulled down, exposing her breasts.
Toilet paper and what looked like shaving foam was strewn around the room, said Mr Barton.
After asking to use Rodgers mobile phone she began scrolling through around 10 pictures.
Mr Barton added: "She saw there was a whole series of photographs on the phone of a young woman wearing a pink dress.
"The woman was lying on a bed, clearly not awake. In some of them there were semi-naked men around her.
"Then she realised to her horror the unconscious woman in the pink dress was herself."
The case continues.
"They believed that as a result of their privileged position as professional footballers, they could do this to this young woman and she would not come forward and say what happened."
Mr Barton said the woman, through drink and tiredness, was unconscious. She had a gap of several hours in her memory but had some flashbacks.
The woman had woken in the morning to find herself in bed with Rodgers in a room where another player was asleep, the court heard.
Her bra had been removed and the top of her dress pulled down, exposing her breasts.
Toilet paper and what looked like shaving foam was strewn around the room, said Mr Barton.
After asking to use Rodgers mobile phone she began scrolling through around 10 pictures.
Mr Barton added: "She saw there was a whole series of photographs on the phone of a young woman wearing a pink dress.
"The woman was lying on a bed, clearly not awake. In some of them there were semi-naked men around her.
"Then she realised to her horror the unconscious woman in the pink dress was herself."
The case continues.
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