27 April 2026 , 21:08
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The co-founder of clothing company Superdry raped a woman after a night out drinking, a court has been told.
James Holder, 54, went back to the woman’s home after a night out in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in 2022 and then fell asleep on her bed.
Gloucester Crown Court, sitting in Cirencester, was told the fashion boss then woke up, beckoned the woman, who was trying to sleep in the lounge, into her bedroom and raped her.
Holder, from Cheltenham, denies charges of rape and assault by penetration.
Warning: This story contains distressing details.
James Haskell, prosecuting, said: "The prosecution case is that James Holder sexually assaulted and raped a woman in the early hours of May 7 2022.
"There is no dispute in this case that Mr Holder did engage in some sort of sexual activity with her.
"But he says all the sexual activity that occurred was consensual and he reasonably believed it was so," he added.
’She said no’
The court was told when Holder woke up at the woman’s flat, he told her to join him in the bedroom.
"She said no, she was tired, and she said he pulled her on the bed," Haskell added.
"She said that he continued to touch her. She described him pulling off her lower clothing. She said she tried to stop him.
"From time to time he would say sorry but then carried on. She was telling him to stop.
"At one point she remembered starting to cry but even then he didn’t stop," Haskell added.
The court was told the woman managed to escape from him and left the bedroom, and it was not long before Holder left.
The woman later reported the allegations to the police and gave a video-recorded interview to detectives in July 2022.
"You will hear some voice note messages she sent to her friends and you might think she was pretty drunk by the end of the night," Haskell said.
"The prosecution say that because of her intoxication she was more vulnerable.
"It is the prosecution case that James Holder exploited that vulnerability."
Giving evidence, the woman denied what had happened was consensual - insisting it was rape.
Michelle Heeley KC, defending, suggested the woman had first kissed Holder in the lounge, then removed her own clothes herself before having consensual sex.
"Incorrect," the woman said, under cross examination.
"He forced me to try and perform oral sex on him."
In conclusion, the barrister asked: "This was a drunken sexual encounter that you regret?"
She replied: "Incorrect."
The trial continues.
Politics Editor