Oxford News
Superdry co-founder denies raping woman in Cotswolds
James Holder, 54, said the woman kissed him first, and it was “evident what she wanted to happen”.
Gloucester Crown Court heard the multimillionaire businessman was “old school and chivalrous” towards women and “adored sex”.
Holder had been out on the evening of May 6, 2022, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and was due to get a taxi back to his mansion in the Cotswolds with a male friend.
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Instead, the pair got into the complainant’s taxi and went to her flat, where she alleges she was raped by the fashion boss.
Holder told the jury he had got out of the first taxi because he “just didn’t want the party to stop”.
He said at the woman’s home, she offered him a drink, which he declined, and put on music, before he went to the toilet and then fell asleep on her bed.
The defendant said he awoke and went to the living room, where his friend was asleep on the sofa, and the complainant was awake, sitting in a chair.
“I asked her if everything was OK, and she said absolutely fine, she was awake,” Holder told the court.
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“As she walked over to me – at that exact moment – we began kissing. I would say it was a maximum of five minutes.
“We walked to the bedroom, which was about a minute away, and walked into the bedroom and began kissing again.”
Holder said he was wearing very tight trousers, which required both his hands to remove, so he could not have been restraining the complainant at the same time.
He told the court the complainant performed oral sex on him before they progressed to consensual sexual intercourse, but stopped when she said it was becoming painful.
Michelle Heeley KC, defending, asked Holder whether the woman was crying at any stage.
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“I did not see or hear her crying at any point,” he said.
Asked why he left the flat a short time later, Holder replied: “I had been out for much longer than I anticipated, and I needed to go home.
“I let myself out. She was asleep on the bed.”
Miss Heeley asked him about his belief in her consent, and he replied: “Completely full consent.”
The court heard Holder learnt of the rape allegation in November 2022 when he was interviewed by detectives.
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Describing that interview, Holder said: “I was in extreme physical and mental shock. I personally felt that the allegation was so foreign and in direct contradiction to what happened.
“I went into complete meltdown, a nosebleed, and bawling like a baby – complete shock.”
In that interview, Holder told police he was “old school and chivalrous” in relation to women, and also “adored sex”.
James Haskell, prosecuting, asked the defendant in cross-examination: “Did you behave in a chivalrous manner towards her that night?”
He replied: “I did, yes. I looked after her throughout the whole evening.”
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The prosecutor asked: “You said that your instinct was to protect women. Did you protect her that night?”
Holder replied: “At the only indication of any level of discomfort, I stopped immediately. I would say that could be a protective instinct.”
Mr Haskell asked why he had got into the complainant’s taxi and gone to her home without first discussing it with her.
He said: “Are you somebody who is used to doing precisely what they want to?”
“No, I am not, actually,” Holder replied.
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Mr Haskell asked: “Is the real reason you wanted to go back to the flat is because you saw an opportunity to have sex with her?”
Holder replied: “No.”
Asked how the encounter began, Holder replied: “She inserted her tongue in my mouth, and it was very evident what she wanted to happen.”
Mr Haskell asked: “You saw something you wanted and you took it because the truth is that when you got to the doorway of the living room, you said something like, ‘What’s happening, is everything all right?’ as you wanted to entice her to the bedroom, and that’s why you said, ‘Can you show me?’
“It ended because she managed to escape off the bed.”
Holder replied: “That’s not correct. She fell straight to sleep. She was fast asleep, so I popped my clothes on and left.”
The defendant was asked: “Is the truth that it suddenly dawned on you of the reality of what you had just done, and you wanted to get out of the flat as soon as possible?”
Holder replied: “No, not true.”
The defendant, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, denies charges of rape and assault by penetration.
The trial continues.
The 52-year-old lives on the Oxfordshire border near Banbury with Spice Girl singer Geri Halliwell, whom he married in 2015.
Mr Horner had been team principal at Red Bull since 2005, overseeing eight drivers’ world championships and six constructors’ titles.
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But this all came to an end last year when his team let him go mid-season over performance relating to the team.
Prior to that, the 52-year-old had also been locked at the centre of allegations of inappropriate behaviour, which he was later cleared of.
Now, Mr Horner is “allowed” to join an F1 team following the conditions of his Red Bull gardening leave, according to GPFans.
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A portion from the latest article said: “Now, reports from the Sunday Times suggest that he, strictly speaking, would be allowed to be in another role with a different team as early as the Canadian Grand Prix in May, in line with a period of gardening leave that he negotiated with Red Bull when leaving.
“Horner is believed to have struck up an £80million deal with the team to end his contract early and walk away, with 10 months gardening leave meaning that he couldn’t join up with another squad until May 2026.
“However, the report also states that he is not planning on a return to the F1 paddock any time soon.”
There are countless reasons for the drastic changes recent years have brought to the UK’s high streets, from the rise of online shopping to world-altering events like the Covid pandemic.
The shopping heart of Oxford is one such place where the retail scenery has developed at a fast pace within the last decade, with many new shops springing up, as well as some long-standing ones being lost.
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We asked Oxford Mail readers which shops they missed the most, and we got hundreds of responses.
One of the most missed shops repeatedly mentioned was Boswells of Oxford, the city’s late, great independent department store.
Boswells opened in Cornmarket in 1739, and was the second oldest family-owned department store in the world when it closed in 2020.
Considered a local shopping landmark, the Boswell store in Broad Street – where it opened in 1929 – was popular for toys, kitchenware, luggage, gifts and all sorts of other goodies.
After 282 years of trading, the store hosted a closing down sale in 2020, and the Broad Street building has since been turned into luxury hotel The Store Oxford, which opened four years later.
Coming in a close second for most missed was Debenham’s, another department store of a bygone era.
The three-storey branch of the popular department store on the corner of George Street and Magdalen Street closed early in 2021 after the chain went into administration.
Now, the prominent city centre site will be turned into life sciences lab space by new owner, The Crown Estate, much to the disappointment of shoppers.
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Another well-missed shop from the city was the Disney Store at the corner of the Westgate, which closed in 2007 ahead of the shopping centre’s major – and somewhat delayed – renovation.
Taking a left-turn away from department stores and big names like Disney, another much-mentioned and dearly missed shop from Oxford was Gordon Thoday.
Gordon Thoday was a fabric shop in the 1970s, which occupied a huge retail space on Cornmarket Street which is now a McDonald’s.
It was a beloved haberdashery for sewers and crafters while it was open, and Gordon Thoday fabrics remain coveted antique pieces among enthusiasts.
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Another store with its own successful niche was Gill’s, or Gill & Co as it was formally known, the High Street shop which claimed to be England’s oldest ironmonger before it closed in 2010, after 480 years trading.
Several readers mentioned how much they missed Gill’s Hardware, which had operated from Wheatsheaf Yard for 50 years when it closed, but the original shop opened in Cornmarket, centuries before.
Other much missed shops include fashion retailers which have closed stores nationwide – some more recently than others – including New Look, River Island, C&A and MK One.
Amarox Limited is recalling the batch after a patient received a pack of Sertraline 100mg tablets that contained one blister strip of Citalopram 40mg tablets by mistake.
Both medicines are SSRIs used to treat depression and anxiety, but taking the wrong drug could cause unexpected side effects.
Dr Alison Cave, chief safety officer at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said: “If you have been prescribed Sertraline 100mg tablets and have received batch number V2500425, please check the carton contains the right medication.
“You can find the batch number and expiry date printed on the side of the outer packaging.
“If the blister strips inside the carton are labelled Citalopram 40mg, please contact your pharmacy as soon as possible.
“If they are labelled Sertraline 100mg, no further action is needed.
“Patients who have accidentally taken citalopram instead of – or as well as – sertraline, may experience some heightened serotonergic side effects.
“These can include nausea, headache, sleep changes, and mild anxiety.”
Both SSRI medications are produced by the same manufacturer, at the same site, and the error appears to have occurred during secondary packaging of the blister strips into the cartons.
The MHRA is urging pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to identify patients who may have received the affected batch and contact them.
Those identified should be advised to return any remaining medication and consult their GP or clinician to discuss whether a new prescription is needed.
Doctors may also need to monitor patients, especially those under 18, over 65, or with existing heart or liver issues.
Adverse reactions should be reported through the MHRA Yellow Card scheme.
Healthcare professionals have been instructed to stop supplying the affected batch and return all remaining stock to their suppliers.
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