Jailed cricketer Alex Hepburn loses appeal to have rape conviction overturned [Post#14]

[MenInG]

Worcestershire County Cricket Club (‘WCCC’) has been closely monitoring the Alex Hepburn court case, which concluded with a guilty verdict on 12th April 2019.

WCCC is appalled by the details that have been reported in this case.

The WCCC Board and CEO were first made aware of the arrest and subsequent charge of Mr Hepburn on 10th November 2017; WCCC then took immediate and decisive action.

Our OneClub values outline clear expectations of attitudes and behaviours for all staff at WCCC and everyone involved in Worcestershire cricket.

WCCC continues to work alongside both the ECB and PCA focussing on education, welfare and development programmes for all staff within the game.

Fanos Hira, WCCC Chairman

WCCC BACKGROUND

• On 1st April 2017 Alex Hepburn was arrested and bailed by West Mercia Police.
• On 12th October 2017 WCCC announced that Alex Hepburn had been awarded a one-year contract extension ending on 30th September 2018.
• On 9th November 2017 Alex Hepburn was charged with two counts of rape.
• On 10th November 2017 WCCC’s Board and CEO were first made aware of both the arrest and subsequent charge of two counts of rape. WCCC met with Mr Hepburn and suspended him on full pay, pending further investigation. WCCC immediately informed its governing body, the ECB, who imposed two sanctions: a cricket suspension, which prevented Mr Hepburn from playing first-class cricket, as well as a safeguarding suspension, which prevented Mr Hepburn from playing any form of cricket.
• On 14th November 2017 WCCC began a formal firm wide review. This was carried out by independent Board members.
• In January 2018 WCCC independent Board members carried out an extensive cultural review with one-on-one meetings with all players and staff. A new coaching team was also appointed.
• On 1st March 2018 WCCC appointed a new CEO, Matt Rawnsley, concluding a global search, which began in October 2017.
• The club’s ongoing collective focus has been on investing in the culture of WCCC, which has now evolved into the OneClub philosophy.
• OneClub defines WCCC’s core values (Community, Integrity, Humility, Teamwork and Commitment), and outlines clear expectations of attitudes and behaviours for all who operate within WCCC and in Worcestershire cricket.
• WCCC aims to be a moral beacon for the internal and external community, understanding its role within elite and recreational cricket as well as social, education, business and civic sectors.
• At the end of September 2018 Mr Hepburn’s contract with WCCC expired and was not renewed.
• On 7th January 2019 Mr Hepburn stood trial at Worcester Crown Court. The jury was discharged on 11th January 2019 after failing to reach a verdict.
• On 24th January 2019 the Crown Prosecution Service announced a re-trial scheduled for Worcester Crown Court on 8th April 2019.
• On 12th April 2019 the re-trial at Worcester Crown Court concluded with a guilty verdict.

http://www.wccc.co.uk/news/wccc-statement-following-the-conclusion-of-alex-hepburn-proceedings/

 

[MenInG]

Disgusting and appalling.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Really strange story this one, apparently he burst into tears upon the verdict. Irony was, he is a good looking fella who had no need to rape anyone, but it shows what can happen when lad culture mixed with alcohol gets out of hand.

 

[MenInG]

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/cricketer-alex-hepburn-jailed-five-16203420

Cricketer Alex Hepburn, who was convicted of raping a woman he found "dozing" in his team-mate's bedroom, has been jailed at Hereford Crown Court for five years.

Hepburn, 23, was warned a jail sentence is inevitable for the attack committed during the first night of a sexual conquest "game" he helped to set up on a WhatsApp group.

 

[the Great Khan]

Just 5 years? he should have got alot more..

 

[msaaim89]

Just 5 years? he should have got alot more..

Absolutely, he's basically just walked away for rape.

 

[King-Misbah]

Absolutely, he's basically just walked away for rape.

If you read the article then you realise that there was some confusion with the consent. The woman I believe initially consented thinking it was someone else and when the act was over she realised that it was him.

 

[Pakistanian]

Quite sickening, should have faced life in prison or maybe capital punishment. Apparently this was part of some "game" to sleep with the most women, it's like he saw them as numbers and not people. Why don't they deport hims to australia and ban him from ever visiting england again or is that just reserved for minorities?

 

[wasimjunior]

If you read the article then you realise that there was some confusion with the consent. The woman I believe initially consented thinking it was someone else and when the act was over she realised that it was him.

Precisely. He is guilty but any woman putting herself in that position its hard to be sympathetic towards

 

[Pakistanian]

Precisely. He is guilty but any woman putting herself in that position its hard to be sympathetic towards

Well she was drunk and you can't ask consent from somebody inebriated, also that was his friend's girl. You just don't go into bed with the girl your friend just slept with and then try to get some, no real friend does that.

 

[Markhor]

What's going on in English cricket recently - assault, rape, drugs.

Surely the ECB educates players on how to conduct themselves off the field ?

 

[kingusama92]

That's messed up.

Surprised he only got 5 years.

 

[wasimjunior]

Well she was drunk and you can't ask consent from somebody inebriated, also that was his friend's girl. You just don't go into bed with the girl your friend just slept with and then try to get some, no real friend does that.

She wasn’t drunk as it happened in the morning. She couldn’t remember what his friend looked like and thought it was him.

He’s disgusting and a creep but she’s hardly a victim if she’s going round consenting to men she can’t remember and confusing who they are.

 

[MenInG]

Jailed cricketer Alex Hepburn has lost his Court of Appeal bid to have his rape conviction overturned.

Hepburn, 24, was jailed for five years in April last year for raping a sleeping woman in his team-mate's bedroom at a flat in Worcester in 2017 during the first night of a sexual conquest competition he helped set up on a WhatsApp group.

A jury had found Hepburn guilty of oral rape at a retrial, but cleared him of a further count of rape relating to the same victim.

At the trial, the Australian-born former Worcestershire all-rounder was said by the prosecution to have been "fired up" by the contest to sleep with the most women, before carrying out the rape at his flat in Portland Street, Worcester, on April 1 2017.

Hepburn challenged his conviction at the Court of Appeal earlier this month. But, in a judgment handed down on Tuesday, three senior judges, including the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, dismissed his appeal, saying: "The conviction is not unsafe."

At the Court of Appeal hearing, Hepburn's lawyers argued that messages presented to the jury did not show that he was willing to have sex with a woman without consent.

Many of the messages related to a game between Hepburn and a number of others to gain sexual encounters, the court was told.

Hepburn's barrister, David Emanuel QC, said: "The idea propagated by the Crown, that he was so desperate to win the game this year that he would ignore true consent if he had to, is just not supported by anything in the messages or by the fact of the game itself."

Mr Emanuel told the judges: "I accept it would be different if there was talk of sex against will, or trickery to gain a point, or taking a chance, but there's nothing like that in the messages.

"They are too far removed as to be able to be to do with the facts of the alleged offence."

Miranda Moore QC, representing the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), argued that it was right that these WhatsApp messages were heard at the trial.

She told the court that "this wasn't a bit of boyish banter at a point in time" but a "deep-seated and long-running game between a number of professional sportsmen".

Jailing Hepburn at Hereford Crown Court on April 30 last year, Judge Jim Tindal told the cricketer he and a former team-mate, Joe Clarke, had agreed to a "pathetic, sexist game to collect as many sexual encounters as possible", following a similar stunt the previous year.

In remarks about the WhatsApp chat group, the judge said: "You probably thought it was laddish behaviour at the time. In truth, it was foul sexism."

https://www.skysports.com/cricket/n...ses-appeal-to-have-rape-conviction-overturned