TV ACTOR Ben Freeman and a Mid Cheshire schoolgirl were seen cuddling minutes after he allegedly raped her by a Barbados hotel pool, jurors heard yesterday.
James Broughton, a fellow guest at the Almond Beach Village hotel, said he had earlier heard noises from a lounger where the pair appeared to be having sex.
Mr Broughton recognised Freeman as Emmerdale’s Scott Windsor and returned 10 minutes later with a camera.
As jurors viewed the snaps, he said: “Ben Freeman and the girl were cuddling on the sun lounger. He was sitting upright with her on his lap.”
The salesman said he and a friend were at the plush hotel when they decided to investigate sounds 15m away.
Freeman, 28, and the teenager, 16, appeared to be having sex, said Mr Broughton.
When Freeman’s lawyer Anesta Weekes QC asked if he heard her scream at the star to stop, Mr Broughton replied: “Not at all.”
Prosecutors claim the youngster wept and begged for mercy in the alleged 2006 attack.
Quizzed by them, Broughton accepted the actor could have been trying to conceal the girl’s face when they were snapped.
Freeman denies rape. The trial in Bridgetown, Barbados, continues.
