Barrister makes defendant in Northampton rape trial explain how 'please let me go home' was woman giving consent

Defendant tells court woman 'was upset, but it's not like tears were streaming down her face'
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A defendant in a Northampton rape trial was asked to explain how "please let me go home" and "I don't want to" meant she was giving him consent to have sex with her in a toilet.

A trial is underway over the alleged rape of a woman at a Northampton bedsit at the hands of four men in August 2019.

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Today, one of the two defendant's in the case was led line by line through a secret recording the alleged victim made during the incident and asked to explain himself.

A man was asked how he took "please let me go home" and "stop" as consent during an alleged rape in Northampton.A man was asked how he took "please let me go home" and "stop" as consent during an alleged rape in Northampton.
A man was asked how he took "please let me go home" and "stop" as consent during an alleged rape in Northampton.

Second defendant in Northampton rape trial tells jury 'she was kissing me back so that's consent' The recording was of one of the two defendants - Dennis McGowan, 38, of Mounts Court - talking to the woman before having sex with her in a bathroom, reportedly after three other men had already had sex with her.

Prosecutor Mr Steven Talbot-Hadley told the court the woman said she hadn't wanted to be touched by them.

"She said to you, 'please sir just let me go home,'" said the prosecutor. "You replied, 'no let's do something in the toilet'

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"She became upset and you started to kiss her saying 'don't worry mate I'll look after you'.

"She said 'I'm going home now,'" the prosecutor said.

"I thought I was comforting her," explained McGowan. "The door was right there, she could have left at any time.

"She was upset, but it's like not tears were streaming down her face."

It comes after McGowan previously gave evidence that the woman was "loving it" and she gave her consent by "kissing back"."You, in fact, accept that she was not consenting?," said the prosecutor.

"No," said McGowan.

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When McGowan was first played the audio recording by police, he said it was "a fabrication".

"You knew that recording plainly showed you were raping her," said the prosecutor.

"You're making it up mate," replied McGowan.

McGowan is standing trial alongside John Cunningham, 28, of no fixed abode, who the prosecution say are two of the four men who raped the woman that night. Both men claim the woman had sex with them consensually.