Music mogul ‘ boasted about Beatles before raping girl, 15’
AN ‘ ARROGANT’ music promoter bragged about working with the Beatles before raping a 15-year-old girl, a court heard. Country music mogul Mervyn Conn hired the girl to dress as a cowgirl at a Country and Western music festival he promoted at Wembley Arena in the 1970s.
Conn, now 81, name-dropped The Fab Four and country singer Crystal Gayle to the schoolgirl before forcing himself on her, Kingston Crown Court heard.
He was said to have manipulated her over a period during which he sexually assaulted her while she wore the cowgirl outfit and her school uniform.
The alleged victim, now 56, broke down in tears and became extremely distressed in a police interview that was recorded and played to jurors.
She said she was employed by Conn as a hostess in 1976, handing out brochures to festival goers, dressed as a cowgirl. She insisted that the promoter knew her age because she gave her date of birth during an interview.
The woman said Conn told her to go to his dressing room at the end of the event. Once there, she claims that he took advantage of her, groping her breasts and forcing her to perform a sex act on him. The woman said: ‘it felt like an eternity. He just sort of dismissed me and i stumbled out and felt in a daze and in turmoil.
The alleged victim said she was asked to go to Conn’s head office in Charing Cross, central London, on a number of occasions.
On her second visit to his office, she said she went straight from school in her uniform and Conn showed her a wad of money as if he was ‘showing off’. Once other staff had left she said Conn ‘talked about many people like Crystal Gayle’ and forced himself upon her again. ‘He was forceful and aggressive,’ she said. ‘i felt slightly bruised and shocked. it seemed to happen quite quickly.”
She then told him she felt sick and added: “it would have been really obvious i didn’t want it.
‘i don’t know what i said, i think “i don’t like this, please stop”. i was mystified as to why i was called there at all.
‘He told me stuff about people, how he owned the rights to the Beatles songs.’
On her third visit to his office she claimed Conn insisted on taking her home so he could show off his Rolls-Royce.
But instead he took her to his gated house in Wimbledon, southwest London, and raped her in the marital bed, the court heard.
‘i just completely numbed out,’ she said. ‘i felt like i was out of my body, like feeling struck dumb and i couldn’t speak.’
When asked why she went back to see Conn, she said: ‘i was scared of him and scared of what would happen if i didn’t go.
‘He was a dominating person, very egotistical. He had this bouffant hair, smelt like cigars, looked almost like he was in the Mafia.’
Conn, of Wimbledon, denies three counts of indecent assault, two counts of rape, and attempting to commit a sexual act on a girl under the age of 16.
The trial continues.