Jury made to listen to one-hour recording of alleged rape incident at Northampton bedsit

A jury was made to listen to an hour-long recording as evidence of an alleged rape at a Northampton flat.

A trial is underway over the alleged sexual assault of a woman at by four men at a Billing Brook bedsit in August 2019.

At Northampton Crown Court on May 25, the jury was played an audio recording made by the alleged victim on her phone during the incident.

The prosecution say the man in the clip is Dennis McGowan, of Mounts Court, Billing Brook, one of the two men on trial for rape.

Around five minutes into the recording, the woman is heard saying "no". The man is also heard laughing during the clip. Afterwards, the woman asked to go to the bathroom where she sat for around 15 minutes by herself, occasionally sobbing.

When played the clip by police after his arrest, McGowan reportedly said the recording was "a fabrication".

The last half an hour was primarily of chatter among the men as the woman slept.

The men on the recording repeatedly ask if the woman was all right and if she wanted to sleep on a bed, before one man calls her a taxi.

Outside, the woman spoke alone with the other man on trial - John Cunningham, 28, of no fixed abode - who asked if she "was alright" and "do you feel like you've been violated?"

"Not violated," replied the woman. "I'm mean, you've been alright. Like, you said to them I was sleeping, not to wake me up."

"Have you ever been in a situation like that before?" was another question from Cunningham.

"I've been in worse situations," she replied.

The woman reportedly attended Northampton A&E immediately after the incident after self-harming in the taxi. She reported the alleged incident to the police the same morning on August 3. The 999 call was also played to the jury.

The trial, which began on Monday (May 24), is being held against two of the alleged attackers - John Cunningham, 28, of no fixed abode, and Dennis McGowan, of Mounts Court, Billing Brook - who have both pleaded not guilty to rape and claim the woman had sex with them consensually.

The woman's case that she was taken to the flat by a stranger, plied with drinks before four of the five men in the flat each raped her.The trial continues.