Woman tells court of rape ordeal after being allegedly drugged in Rugby flat

A woman has told a jury that as a teenager she was raped in a Rugby flat after being drugged, leaving her knowing what was going on but unable to do anything about it.
Warwick Crown Court at the Leamington Justice CentreWarwick Crown Court at the Leamington Justice Centre
Warwick Crown Court at the Leamington Justice Centre

The woman, now in her late 30s, said she was 17 when she was allegedly raped by Peter Jones, who is standing trial at Warwick Crown Court with another man and a woman on a number of charges.

Jones (55) of Wheelwright Lane, Coventry, but previously from Rugby, has pleaded not guilty to raping three different women in the late 1990s.

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He has also denied sexual assault, kidnapping, having an imitation firearm with intent to commit an offence, false imprisonment, administering drugs to have intercourse, causing or inciting prostitution, and assault.

Raymond Dickens (53) of Langdale Close, Rugby, denies two charges of rape, as well as further charges of indecent assaults on three young women, procuring a woman to become a prostitute and false imprisonment.

Also in the dock is Helen Thompson (43) of Morris Close, Rugby, who has pleaded not guilty to taking part with Jones in the kidnapping of a teenager 20 years ago.

One of the alleged victims of the two men said she had moved out of the area - but contacted Warwickshire Police after a former boyfriend got in touch after reading reports of Jones and Dickens having been arrested over allegations by two other women.

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She told the jury she first met Dickens when she was 17 and, having just been introduced to heroin, was getting it from his then-girlfriend, for whom she started selling drugs to support her habit.

She said she then started selling drugs for Dickens, through whom she met Jones, who she described as being ‘just in the background.’

Of the alleged assault on her by Dickens, she explained: “His girlfriend had stolen off him, I think it was drugs or money, and she blamed me for taking it.

“I didn’t have a clue why he was beating me up when it happened, but later I discovered she’d blamed me for what she’d taken.”

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Giving evidence from behind a screen, the woman spoke of an occasion when she said she had been in a nightclub, where they had been drinking champagne, when she was told to go with Jones to his home to get some drugs.

Once they got to Rounds Gardens, where Jones was living at the time, he made her a cup of tea – which it is alleged was laced with the date-rape drug GHB, referred to by Jones as Gamma.

The woman told the jury: “I was quite aware of myself, and I remember sitting in the flat waiting for Raymond to turn up, but he never turned up. The drug must have kicked in after 20 minutes or half an hour.”

She said she had ‘a locked-in feeling’ as she was then raped by Jones.

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She explained: “I knew what was going on, but I couldn’t move. It was like watching it through my eyes and experiencing it, but not being able to do anything about it. I can still see it in my head.”

On a later occasion, having been too scared to tell anyone what had happened, she said she was again told by Dickens to go to collect drugs from Jones, who by then had moved to a flat in St Andrew’s Court in Wood Street, Rugby.

Prosecutor Michael Shaw said: “On that occasion you were not raped because you fought back.”

The woman said: “I didn’t accept a drink there because I knew what happened the first time.

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“As I wasn’t out of my head, he just pulled me into the bedroom and pushed me down on the bed. I thought he was going to rape me again,” she said, adding that she struggled, and he eventually let her leave.

She said Jones and Dickens had a variety of weapons which they used to instil fear, ‘as a way of getting us to behave,’ including knuckledusters, baseball bats and Tasers, of which she commented: “Tasers were scary because I’d never seen one before.”

On another occasion she said she was in a car with Dickens, for whom she was selling drugs at the time, at Whinfield Rec in Rugby, where she thought they were waiting for someone.

She said Dickens told her to give him ‘a blow-job,’ and, asked by Mr Shaw why she had not refused, she said: “I did, but he didn’t accept the refusal.”

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Asked why she did not report that or the alleged rape by Jones, she added: “They made it clear the police wouldn’t be interested because we’d just be classed as lying junkies.

“I was threatened Peter Jones would put me in a car, that I was just a junkie and no-one would notice if I disappeared.”

The trial continues.