Brighton footballers cleared of sex attack

Three Brighton and Hove Albion footballers and a former team-mate have been cleared of sexually assaulting a teenager.

George Barker, 21, Lewis Dunk, 21, and Anton Rodgers, 20, and their former team mate Steve Cook, 22, who has since joined Bournemouth, have all now also been cleared of voyeurism.

The four men were in the dock at the Central Criminal Court – better known as the Old Bailey – for a retrial.

The first Old Bailey jury failed to reach a verdict on the sex attack charges although Dunk was cleared of voyeurism at the initial trial.

The case was brought after the four men were accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman as she slept in a bedroom at the Jury’s Inn by Brighton Station.

The attack was alleged to have happened in July 2011 after they had been out celebrating victory in the Sussex Senior Cup Final. They were arrested by Sussex Police in January last year.

Barker and Rodgers, both of Highview Avenue North, Brighton, Cook, of Perth Road, St Leonard’s, and Dunk, of Woodbourne Avenue, Brighton, denied the charges.

The jury took almost nine hours over three days to reach a decision after the Judge Christopher Moss said that he would accept a majority verdict.

Cook, Dunk and Rodgers – who had funded their own defence – were awarded costs by the judge.

The football club said: “Brighton and Hove Albion are pleased to note the not guilty verdicts in the trial involving George Barker, Lewis Dunk and Anton Rodgers.

“This concludes a difficult period for all those concerned.”