The second day of the trial of Hoole man Nicholas Crawshaw gets under way at Warrington Crown Court today (Wednesday, October 5). The 23-year-old is accused of 11 sex offences, including six rapes. Crawshaw denies all of the charges against him. Chronicle reporter Mike Fuller will be providing updates from today's proceedings.
End of day two
That is the last of the evidence which will be heard at Warrington Crown Court today.
Thank you for following our updates from the courtroom.
The trial is scheduled to resume at 10.30am on Thursday.
Complainant says she wouldn't make up stories
Mr Mills is now re-examining the witness.
She says she fell out with the seventh complainant in the case in April of 2015, but they have since made up.
Mr Mills said: “Have you got any reason to come along and make up a story about Nick Crawshaw?”
The complainant says she ‘wouldn’t want to do that’. This concludes her evidence.
Sleepover
Mr Le Brocq is now cross-examining the witness about her allegations.
He says it was basically a sleepover at her friend’s house. Mr Le Brocq puts it to her at some stage in the night the group of four went out to throw an egg at someone’s house, the witness says she cannot remember that happening.
Mr Le Brocq suggests Crawshaw’s insinuation they have sex and the alleged assault never happened.
He said: “It’s not true is it? Nick was actually more interested in your friend. This is a something you’ve made up to try to help your friend with their allegation.”
The woman says that is incorrect.
Seventh complainant confided in her
The witness says the seventh complainant, who was a long-term friend, told her about being raped by Crawshaw in Grosvenor Park, but she did not tell her about the sex assault against her as she ‘didn’t want to make it all about me’.
Complainant knows three of the others
The video interview has finished. The complainant has chosen to give her live evidence via video link from a different room here at Warrington Crown Court.
Mr Mills again asks which of the following names of the other alleged victims she recognises. The woman says she went to the same Chester secondary school as the third, fifth and seventh complainants in the case.
'Abuse of trust'
The complainant continued: “In a way it didn’t really bother me he was being persistent.
“I was aware that he was a bit older than me and there wasn’t anyone in the room to stop it.
“I was shocked and scared, I wanted to get back to my friend.
“I thought he might force me to go upstairs with him.”
She adds she pushed past him to get back into the living room, she didn’t mention it to anyone as she thought it would be ‘awkward’ to do it in front of everybody while Crawshaw was also there.
The woman says she saw Crawshaw on a couple of occasions after the alleged incident as her friend, who is the seventh complainant in the case, became friends with the defendant.
She felt he had ‘abused her trust’.
'He grabbed my hand and put it down his pants'
The complainant says she was at a gathering at a friend’s house along with her friend, Crawshaw and another male.
There were no parents present at the time.
She said: “Nick was insinuating we should go upstairs and have sex throughout the night.
“He kept persisting, but I didn’t want to do anything.
“In the morning I went into the kitchen and Nick followed me in and wouldn’t let me leave. He tried to get me to go upstairs again and I said I didn’t want to.
“He grabbed my hand and put it down his pants, then he walked off.”
Fourth complainant's police video interview
The trial is now moving on to evidence from the fourth complainant in the case, again starting with her video interview.
She has alleged that Crawshaw sexually assaulted her at a friend’s house by grabbing her hand and shoving it down his trousers.
She claims she was underage at the time.
Crawshaw asked to show his hands
An unexpected request from a member of the jury, who has asked to see Nick Crawshaw’s hands.
Judge Landale says it is up to the defendant whether he is happy to do this.
Crawshaw stands in the dock and shows the panel the front and back of his hands, before sitting down again. The juror is satisfied by that, it seems.
Complainant's friend says she wouldn't make allegation up
The witness says her friend told her about the alleged rape by Crawshaw two years after she says it happened.
Mr Le Brocq is now cross-examining the witness.
He says she cannot say for sure whether her friend is telling the truth.
She said: “No I can’t say 100%, but from how she is, she wouldn’t make something like this up and I know how much it has affected her.”
Next witness called
Parties are brought back to the courtroom following the lunch break.
A friend of the third complainant has been called to give evidence.
Third complainant's evidence is completed
That sums up the evidence of the third alleged victim.
Court will break for lunch until 2.25pm.
No disclosure made to councillor she was seeing
The defence is asking why the complainant did not disclose any abuse to a councillor she was seeing in a period since the alleged incident.
She said: “Just because she was a professional councillor doesn’t mean I trusted her enough to tell her what has happened.
“I had already made a decision to not take it further because I thought I was going to be alone. Of course you are not going to tell her straight away.”
Mr Le Brocq says this is different to the evidence she gave in the last trial.
She says she did not remember whether she was asked by the councillor about any abuse, but if she was the reason why she did not mention it still stands.
'Complete shock'
“If what you say was happening at the time was happening anyone could have walked across it couldn’t they?”
The witness said: “If there was people there yes but there’s no guarantee.”
Mr Le Brocq said: “You could’ve shouted out to anybody but you didn’t. I have to suggest this was because you weren’t there were you?”
She said: “It was just because of complete shock about what was happening.”
Alleged victim breaks down
The defence accuses her of being conveniently unable to remember the details of the attack.
The complainant replied: “It’s a horrible thing to happen so you are going to block it out.
“Being raped was a horrible, horrible thing which caused me a lot of anxiety and pain.
“If I were to make it up I would have so many more details, I would have a much better story.”
She breaks down after being shown pictures of Grosvenor Park and being asked to describe the scene.
Complainant denies making up lies
Mr Le Brocq questions the witness why she only came forward after others did.
He said: “It’s because it never happened did it?”
She said: “It was me realising there were a lot more people coming forward than I thought.
“I knew I wouldn’t be on my own, it wouldn’t just be me versus Crawshaw it would be five or six of us.”
Defence suggests collusion
Mr Le Brocq is now cross-examining the witness on behalf of the defence.
He says: “You have actually talked about it quite a bit haven’t you? What happened is you’ve put your heads together to make the same false allegations about Nick Crawshaw.
“The location is the same and the methodology is the same.”
The witness replies: “It’s a pattern of a creature of habit.”
She adds she did not know the fourth complainant had come forward with another allegation against Crawshaw since the first trial.
Discussion between complainants
The woman and the seventh complainant have both alleged Crawshaw raped them in Grosvenor Park, two years apart.
She says they have discussed it as they were supporting each other as they had ‘both been through the same thing’.
Complainant confirms friendship with three alleged victims
The complainant is ready to give evidence from behind a screen. The jury are brought back into the courtroom.
Mr Mills runs through a list of names of the other alleged victims in the case, the witness confirms she is a friends with the fourth, fifth and seventh complainants, who all went to the same school.
Short break in proceedings
This concludes the third complainant’s video interview.
Arrangements are now being made for her to give evidence in the courtroom. There will be a short break until 12.30pm.
Has actively avoided Crawshaw, she says
Since the alleged incident, the complainant says she would ‘actively’ try to avoid Crawshaw.
She said she would see him as Chester is ‘quite a small place’, but she would be blunt with him and had also deleted him from her social media.
Hesitance to 'come forward'
The complainant has revealed she moved schools not long after the alleged incident.
Eventually she told her new friends - one of whom is another complainant in the case.
She said: “I did not want to come forward at the start as I was concerned that me being not able to remember a lot of it would hinder the case.”
Nightmares
‘Confused and shaken’ is how the complainant describes her emotions after the alleged incident.
She says she told her close friends from school, but not ‘straight away’.
The woman said: “I’ve had really bad nightmares since. It’s only recently I’ve pieced together that’s when it started.”
'I told him to stop five or six times'
The woman said: “I remember being sat next to him, but not how he got me on my back.
“I told him to stop five or six times.
“I didn’t push him with enough force to shove him off, just enough to show him I was very serious. I pushed at him with as much force as you can muster lying down.
“I remember doing that a few times and that’s the point he got off.
“The next thing I can recall is being on the bus home thinking what just happened and trying to piece together everything. Whether it was my fault and I had given him the wrong impression, it definitely wasn’t that.”
Alleged victim claims she tried to push him off
The complainant says she told Crawshaw to stop, but he persisted.
Eventually she sat up and started trying to push him off, the court hears.
'I remember just saying stop'
The witness continued: “I just remember lying there and taking it for too long, then I thought this wasn’t right.
“I remember just saying stop and saying I didn’t want this.
“He carried on, but eventually he stopped.”
Complainant says her memory of alleged attack cuts out
The complainant said: “I just remember going into the park, I’m not sure which entrance we went through.
“I’ve not been back there for a while.”
The alleged attack took place in a bush.
She said: “You can see the river from there and it overlooks to Boughton.
“I don’t remember anyone being there, but at the time I don’t think I needed anyone to notice. It was quite a nice day.
“It was a clearing within a load of bushes, we climbed through and sat down and he pointed out his house. I remember thinking it was weird, but that’s where my memory kind of cuts out. I’m pretty sure I’ve blocked it out.”
Third complainant's evidence gets under way
The court is now moving on to evidence around the third complainant in the case, starting with her video interview.
She has alleged Crawshaw raped her in Grosvenor Park in 2010, while she was under age.
The complainant says she met Crawshaw through friends in 2010 and they were ‘friendly enough’.
She said: “He was a figure who was always there and he was always nice.”
On the night of the alleged incident in April 2010, she was in Chester city centre and ‘bumped into’ Crawshaw. She was upset after earlier breaking up with her boyfriend.
She said: “He said I seemed down and I needed cheering up. It was his suggestion we should go to the park.”
'Cheeky chappy'
The witness has concluded her evidence. Mr Mills is reading out a statement from another teacher at the Chester high school about Crawshaw’s character.
She said: “They called him ‘Diamond Boy’ as he wore a diamond stud in his ear and he walked with a swagger. I would describe him as a cheeky chappy and don’t recall him being a troublesome student.
“He was very sporty in school and hung around with a popular group of lads. He was especially popular with the girls and he liked to be the centre of attention.”
Threats against second complainant
Mr Mills is now questioning the witness again. The transcripts show the school were worried about comments being made by other pupils about the second complainant on social media, he says.
These included threats to ‘beat her up’ over the rumours circulating in the school about her and Crawshaw.
At the time she was also suffering problems ‘with her mental wellbeing’.
