Bartolomeo Joly de Lotbiniere goes on trial accused of rape in York

Bartolomeo Joly de Lotbiniere, 21, is charged with rape and assault by penetration of a woman following a night out in York in 2014.

The claimant’s friends told the court she seemed upset the next day, and the prosecution said she had sought counselling following the incident. She reported it to police months later, after seeing social media comments about history student Joly de Lotbiniere’s appearance on University Challenge.

Joly de Lotbiniere previously told York Crown Court the woman had not protested before or during the sex act, but admitted he was ashamed of his sexual inexperience and felt they both regretted the experience.

The jury retired on Monday, following a recap of the evidence by Judge Paul Batty QC, who initially told them a unanimous verdict was required, but later said a majority verdict would be accepted.

Previous report

A FRIEND of a man accused of raping a fellow student has claimed he could be “grabby” with women in nightclubs.

Josh Baker told York Crown Court how Bartolomeo Joly de Lotbiniere’s personality would change when he was drunk and would use the unusual tactic to approach women he was attracted to.

“Most of the time he would be fine but sometimes he would be a bit more grabby,” he told the jury on the fourth day of the former University of York student’s trial.

“I didn’t know most of them, I assumed some of them to be strangers.
“When he got very drunk, as a method of trying to get with girls he would go up to them in a more forceful manner.

“I wasn’t entirely comfortable with it sometimes but if it was reciprocated by the girls there wasn’t anything wrong with it, but at times when that wasn’t the case it was a bit awkward.”

The 21-year-old defendant is accused of rape and assault by penetration dating back to June 2014.

It is alleged the woman was raped after a night out in York the day before the defendant went home to London for the 2014 summer break.

The prosecution say he undressed the woman, carried her to a bed and raped her, but Joly de Lotbiniere denies this and claims the sex was consensual.

Defence witness Flossie Vice-Coles, 22, gave evidence and described the defendant as a “kind, compassionate, gentle person” and an “old fashioned gentleman.”

She said: “I feel like he had values that a lot of boys at university didn’t. He was very respectful and kind.

“He was never aggressive or inappropriate with girls.”

The trial heard closing speeches from the prosecution and defence as they set out their arguments for a final time.

Judy Khan QC, defending, said: “When Barto was arrested in September 2015 it was the start of a nightmare for him.

“You can end the nightmare for him next week by finding him not guilty.”

Miss Khan said the jury must only find him guilty if they are certain he carried out the alleged crimes.

She added: “We say on this evidence you are a million miles away from that position and we invite you to find him not guilty.”

The trial continues.

Day 3 report

A UNIVERSITY friend of a man accused of rape had to warn him about his “creepy” behaviour towards women, a court has heard.

George Hall told Bartolomeo Joly de Lotbiniere, 21, to “tone down” the “lustful” comments he was making about women when they were on holiday together in Europe two years ago.

Mr Hall, a former student at the University of York, said he also witnessed the defendant “holding a woman in place more than you would expect” as he kissed her in a nightclub.

Joly de Lotbiniere, who was part of the University of York’s University Challenge team, denies rape and assault by penetration. Both the defendant and alleged victim were 19 at the time.

Speaking about kissing in the nightclub, Mr Hall said: “I noticed he seemed to be holding the girl more than you can imagine. People kissing in clubs, there’s not so much force in the hold, but I felt it was perhaps a more forceful way he was holding this girl.”

Mr Hall described feeling uncomfortable about the way the defendant spoke about girls during their summer trip to Belgium and the Netherlands and warned him he “would teach him not to be creepy”.

He added: “I had concern in so much that I had warned Barto about the way he was talking about girls.

“I can’t remember the sort of things he would say because it was quite a long time ago, but they were lustful comments.

“They made me uncomfortable so much so that I asked him to tone it down, which I have never done before.”

Joly de Lotbiniere, of Bolton Gardens, London, has strongly denied raping the woman.

“She didn’t say at any point ‘no’,” he has told the court. "The sex was consensual. She didn’t say ‘please stop’.”

He said text messages he sent the girl in which he apologised and said he was “a disgrace”, referred to his sexual performance.

Gerald Hendron, prosecuting, suggested they were sent by the defendant so he could apologise for raping her.

Joly de Lotbiniere denied this and said he was referring to his performance in the bedroom.

He said: “I was a disgrace because I could have performed better.
“I put myself across as someone who could do this when in fact I had only one sexual experience before.”
 

Day 2 report

A STUDENT said he was “ashamed” over his sexual inexperience, but denied raping a woman at her halls of residence.

Bartolomeo Joly de Lotbiniere, 21, is charged with rape and assault by penetration when he was 19 and in his first year at the University of York, following an end-of-term night out in 2014.

Joly de Lotbiniere, a history student who appeared on University Challenge, told York Crown Court on Wednesday he “could feel the sexual tension in the air” after a night out, and was talking with the woman about a friend who had gone back to another man’s room.

He said they kissed in the corridor near her room before he left “to get a condom”, then returned, undressed, and joined the woman in bed.

He told the court she had not asked him to stop or pushed him away, but when he had been unable to perform “she said ‘this isn’t working, let’s stop’”, so he gathered his clothes and left.

A friend of the complainant told the court on Wednesday that she spoke to her the morning after the alleged rape, and she seemed “really upset, very distracted”.

She said: “She sat down on the floor in my room and she was hugging her legs. I could tell she wasn’t okay. She said she remembered she didn’t have any clothes on and wasn’t clear about how that had happened and said he was trying to have sex with her but she told him not to and tried to push him off and said she didn’t want to.”

The fridn said “my inference from that was that he had raped her”.

The court heard the complainant later sought counselling from a cognitive behaviour therapist at the university and from the support charity Survive, before contacting police.

Joly de Lotbiniere,of Bolton Gardens, London, sent a text message sent to the woman in the days following the incident, which said: “I was a disgrace, I did a very stupid thing and I’m very sorry for what I did, I just hope you can forgive me for what I did and I will do my best to not act like a bloody 14-year-old again and start acting my age, sorry.”

He told the court the text was meant as an apology for being unable to perform sexually, and told police he was “embarrassed that it came to nothing and I made it awkward”.

He said: “I felt ashamed because I was so inexperienced that I couldn’t properly have sex with her.
“I didn’t want to prolong the bad feeling, just wanted to sort it out let it lie, and then we can both move on from it. I didn’t think a year and a half later she would come back and accuse me of rape.”

Joly de Lotbiniere told the court he had drunk spirits including vodka on the night out, but was not overly drunk. He said they undressed each other, the sex was consensual, and at no point did she try to push him off.

He said: “I put myself across as this more experienced guy in bed that I could do this one night stand and it all fizzled out to both of our disappointment and regret.”

The trial continues.

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Report from day 1 of the trial

A FORMER York student and star of University Challenge has gone on trial accused of raping a woman.

Bartolomeo Joly de Lotbiniere, 21, is charged with rape and assault by penetration when he was 19 and in his first year at the University of York.

Opening the prosecution at York Crown Court on Tuesday, Gerald Hendron said Joly de Lotbiniere and the alleged student victim, who was also 19 at the time, had been out with a group of friends before going home for the summer break.

They went back to the woman's Heslington halls of residence around 4am and she alleges he leaned in to kiss her when he was at her door.

It was alleged the University of York history graduate told her they should have sex because it would help her get over an ex-boyfriend.

The woman declined and went to a communal toilet and waited for ten minutes until she believed Joly de Lotbiniere had left, the court was told.

When she came out she walked into her room and, the prosecution say, Joly de Lotbiniere followed her in uninvited.

Mr Hendron said the defendant kissed the student and told her he had fantasised about her.

The prosecution say he was drunk and continued to take off her bra, jeans and top then lifted her up and carried her to a bed.

The woman said she "froze" and told police she was "really confused" about what was happening and "didn't know what was going on".

It is alleged he sexually touched her then had sex with her as she tried to push him off.

The prosecution say he left and told the woman "pretend this never happened and tell nobody about this".

The following morning, the woman told two of her friends.

A friend that had been out with them the night before noticed the woman was not herself and she said Barto, as the defendant is known, would not leave her room the previous night and forced himself on her.

Text messages obtained from the pair's mobile phones reveal Joly de Lotbiniere, of Bolton Gardens, London, apologised for his behaviour.

The woman sent him a message two days later and said she "wasn't overly comfortable" with the alleged events.

He replied saying he "did a very stupid thing" and apologised for being a "disgrace".

That was the last message sent between the pair until the following October when they encountered each other at a house party.

The woman felt uncomfortable around him and left, but Joly de Lotbiniere sent her a text message the same evening explaining he wanted to apologise in person.

Judy Khan QC, for the defence, said the defendant disputes the woman's story and said the sex was consensual.

She said the pair kissed for two minutes before the defendant told her "we should have sex, I'm going to get a condom".

When he returned the woman was said to be in her bed and he did not undress or carry her.

The accusations went unreported for 15 months before the woman spoke to police and Joly de Lotbiniere was arrested in September 2015.

The woman suggested that the 21-year-old's appearance on BBC2's University Challenge, which brought him considerable attention on social media due to his unusual surname, made her realise she had not got over the alleged rape.

She told police: "And then basically he was on University Challenge and it was just all over social media and certain tweets and I realised that a year on I still couldn't really... I knew something was up and I just wanted to do something about it.

"I saw a tweet from a fan and I just got angry and upset. It has really got to me. I think if I had been feeling fine about it I wouldn't have been feeling like I did."

Under cross examination, Judy Kahn QC, suggested the sex was consensual and the woman was regretful of what had happened because she had been under the influence of alcohol at the time.

She told the court that on the night in question she had drank a bottle of VK alcopop and one shot of Sambuca.

Miss Kahn suggested it was a "disastrous one night stand" and she had reinvented what happened.

Text messages read out in court

• June 29 at 19.42 from the alleged victim to Joly de Lotbiniere: "I thought I'd let you know I wasn't overly comfortable with what happened the other night."
• June 29 at 23.29 from Joly de Lotbiniere to alleged victim: "Neither am I, I was a disgrace, I did a very stupid thing and I'm very sorry for what I did, I just hope you can forgive me for what I did and I will do my best to not act like a bloody 14-year-old again and start acting my age, sorry."
• October 12 at 19.53 from Joly de Lotbiniere after the alleged victim had seen him at a house party and avoided him: "I wanted to apologise to you in person tonight. I wanted to let you know I'm sorry for what I did and that there's no enmity between us and we can move on as mutual friends."