City lawyer and England rower ‘ kept slapping bottom of mistress at Xmas party’
A CITY lawyer repeatedly slapped his mistress’s bottom and called her an Australian slut at a Christmas party for his rowing club, a court heard yesterday.
Alastair Main, who has competed for England, allegedly grabbed her by the hair and pulled up her skirt in the ladies’ toilets.
The 35-year- old is then said to have poured a pint of beer over her after asking: ‘Off to find some men are we?’
When the 28-year-old fled, he was heard to shout: ‘ You’re nothing but a slut. You’d better start running because I’m coming for you.’
The lawyer, who attended the £30,000-a-year Oratory School in Reading, had been cheating on his wife for a year with the woman when the attack took place, it was alleged.
The mistress broke down in court yesterday as she described feeling humiliated and scared by Main’s aggressive behaviour at the dinner event.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, she said tensions between them started that night when she rebuffed his advances at the bar.
‘His demeanour had changed, like something had snapped and there was this
‘I could hear heavy footsteps’
anger about him,’ she said. ‘His behaviour was getting worse and at that point Mr Main poured a beer over me.
‘I was drenched, my hair was so wet. In my handbag, my scarf. He called me an Australian slut.’
The woman tied her hair into a bun to disguise the fact that it was wet and returned to the party at the London Rowing Club in Putney.
Moments later Main came up behind her and pulled her hair and pushed her forward, the court was told.
She said: ‘I went to the bathroom to fix myself up. I could hear heavy footsteps coming into the ladies bathroom.
‘He appeared and said, “Where do you think you’re going?” He called me a slut again.
‘ I don’t remember having breath to say anything because I was in shock.
‘He was pulling my hair, slapping my head and pushing me around. He pulled my skirt up, calling me a slut and asking me if I was wearing any knickers.
‘He was slapping my bottom. He was slapping my thighs and my bottom and stopped that to try and pull my skirt up.’
The alleged victim managed to escape briefly when another woman came into the toilet.
Main, who works for Schroders after a spell at Coutts, then called her ‘ nothing but a slut’ before slapping her bottom and thighs as she walked out of the building, it was alleged.
The woman said she found sanctuary in a cocktail bar but was followed by her attacker. She managed to escape once again and spent the night with a friend.
During cross examination, defence lawyer Eloise Marshall accused her of sparking the incident by threatening to tell Main’s wife about the time when she suspected that she might be carrying his baby.
Miss Marshall suggested the woman had found out Main and his wife were embarking on IVF and used that to ‘have a go at him’. ‘You were so angry you wanted to hit him more than once,’ the lawyer said. The woman tearfully replied: ‘No’.
The alleged victim admitted that she had been in love with Main and thought he was going to leave his wife for her when he sent her a picture of packed baggage.
She added: ‘When I found out it wasn’t true I didn’t want to be a part of it.’
The day after the alleged attack, Main sent her a message that said: ‘You rejected me as you had done so many times before. That set me off. I’m sorry for what I did and said.’ In a later email, he said: ‘ It was totally unacceptable, I realise that. I need to sort my life out and stop ruining yours.’
When the woman made a complaint to the police, she said the affair ended in July 2015.
But yesterday she was forced to admit that they had been seeing each other ‘intimately’ in the following months when she was reminded of bikini pictures she had sent him.
Main, who appeared before Wimbledon magistrates wearing a wedding ring, is accused of one count of racially aggravated assault and one of sexual assault last December.
The Nottingham University graduate, who lives with his wife Rebecca in a £1million detached Victorian house in Kingston, denies the claims.
He was a national rowing champion in 2003 and represented England at that year’s home international regatta.
Main joined the London Rowing Club in 2005 and was captain of the club in the 2013/14 season. He had retired from competitive rowing in 2006. He denies the charges. The trial continues.
‘He pulled my skirt up’