Footballer 'raped girl in hotel'

A former Premier League footballer raped a friend in a hotel after pestering her for weeks "to be his girl", a court has heard.

Nile Ranger, 22, is accused of raping the girl after the pair had been out together in Newcastle city centre.

The striker, who plays for Swindon Town, denies the charge that relates to an incident that took place in January last year.

Christine Egerton, prosecuting, said the alleged victim could remember being together at Empress bar in Newcastle where he bought them drinks but then could remember nothing more until she woke up naked in a hotel room the next day.

"She has no recollection that evening of going to a different place but when she woke up she knew she had been there because she had a stamp on her hand," she said.

Ms Egerton told Newcastle Crown Court the girl woke up without any clothes on next to Ranger and had no idea where she was. He then told her they had had sex and that she needed to take the morning after pill.

She then got dressed and called a taxi and left.

Ms Egerton said it was "crystal clear that she was not consenting" as "she was so incapacitated by drink or something unknown that she found it difficult to walk and has no memory whatsoever of what occurred".

The court was played an interview the alleged victim conducted with the police, where she said: "I was feeling really sick, I cannot explain how I felt, I have never felt like that before. I did not feel like I was there."

CCTV footage was also shown of the pair arriving in a taxi at the Carlton Hotel in Jesmond, Newcastle, and she can be seen falling out of the car.

The jury heard Ranger, who used to play for Newcastle United, had been messaging her in the weeks before and would always come and talk to her when they met in clubs.

But she had always told him she was not interested and said she had a boyfriend.

"As far as he was concerned he wanted something more and it went further than that because he had been pestering her for some time," said Ms Egerton.

"In the days and weeks before this allegation they had been communicating by text and Whatsapp and in these communications he had asked her to be his girl."

The court was told on a previous occasion she had gone back to a hotel with him as he said he wanted to talk to her.

He had started kissing her neck and touching her leg but she had not wanted that so when he went to the bathroom she had left the hotel and got a taxi home.

After being arrested Ranger told the police they had twice had sex and she had consented "whole heartedly" and "enthusiastically".

The case continues.