Brighton and Hove Albion players’ Old Bailey sex assault trial begins

Three Brighton and Hove Albion players and a former team mate sexually assaulted a drunken teenager in a hotel room.

They also took photos during the incident, a jury at the Old Bailey was told today (Tuesday 22 January).

Lewis Dunk, 21, Anton Rodgers, 19, and George Barker, 21, deny sexual assault along with 21-year-old Steve Cook, who has since joined Bournemouth.

Dunk, of Woodbourne Avenue, Brighton, Rodgers and Barker, both of Highview Avenue North, Brighton, and Cook, of Perth Road, St Leonard’s, also deny voyeurism.

Richard Barton opened the case for the Crown Prosecution Service, telling the jury that they took advantage of the drunken teenager after she fell asleep.

At the Central Criminal Court, popularly known as the Old Bailey, he said that the players humiliated the vulnerable teenager at the Jury’s Inn Hotel by Brighton Station in July 2011.

Afterwards she was afraid to report what had happened to her, eventually contacting Sussex Police a year ago.

Officers initially arrested six players with two being cleared of involvement.

The trial continues.