Superdry co-founder found guilty of rape
Getty ImagesSuperdry co-founder James Holder has been convicted of raping a woman.
The 54-year-old was found guilty by a jury of seven men and five women after a five-day trial at Gloucester Crown Court, sitting in Cirencester.
Recorder David Chidgey dismissed Holder's application of bail to get his affairs in order, stating the temptation for him to use his "significant resources" to leave would be "too great".
Holder, of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, was also found not guilty of a charge of assault by penetration by the jury.
The fashion tycoon, who set up Superdry with Julian Dunkerton in 2003, was on an "impromptu night out" on 6 May 2022 when he went back to the woman's flat in Cheltenham, he told the court.
A witness said she had called a taxi for Holder and a separate one for the victim, but Holder had then got into the back of the victim's taxi, destined for her home address.
The court heard Holder had fallen asleep on the woman's bed while his friend took up the sofa in her living room, so she slept on the floor.
James Haskell, prosecuting, said Holder appeared at the living room doorway and asked her to join him in the bedroom, but she said "no, she was tired and she said he pulled her on the bed".
Haskell said Holder had "continued to touch" the victim, and described him pulling off her lower clothing, which she "tried to stop".
"From time to time he would say sorry but then carried on. She was telling him to stop," Haskell said.
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