‘FEARS OF BEING CAST AS A SILLY GIRL WERE SPOT-ON’

AFTER seven weeks the strain of the lengthy trial appeared etched on their faces of the jurors as they gazed at the prosecution barrister as he said ‘whether you’re a prince or a pauper’ you can regret something you did when you realise it has consequences for you in the ‘cold light of day’. Toby Hedworth QC faced the eight men and three women of the jury, and said: ‘Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding. Who cares where they went to school? …Who cares about their level of success on a rugby field?’

Apart from an occasional glance towards the Ireland and Ulster players Paddy Jackson, Stuart Olding and their friends Blane McIlroy and Rory Harrison the jurors’ eyes were fixed on the barrister as they appeared to hang on his every word. .

Taking off the black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose Mr Hedworth said: ‘It matters not whether you are a prince or pauper, you are just as capable of getting extremely drunk and doing something, that in the cold light of day when you realise has consequences for yourself, you regret.’

All four defendants looked towards Mr Hedworth as he spoke. He said the woman’s initial concerns of being portrayed as a ‘silly little girl’ had been ‘spot-on’. ‘That’s the stance they have taken,’ he said. He said he was not pursuing ‘some radical’ feminist agenda but talking about ‘proper relationships’, protections and limits of conduct which anyone would expect for their daughter or sister.

Finishing his lenghty summing up he looked directly at the jury and – referencing a message the men had circulated the night after the alleged rape describing themselves as ‘legends’– said: ‘Legends? You decide.’