A YOUNG woman who claims she was raped by a Worcestershire County cricketer broke down in tears in the witness box as she gave evidence from behind a screen.

The alleged rape victim needed a break to compose herself during emotional scenes in the rape trial of Alex Hepburn at Worcester Crown Court today.

She sobbed and struggled to speak when shown photographs of the mattress where she says 23-year-old Hepburn raped her in a city flat.

Australian Hepburn, whose address was given as Portland Street in Diglis, Worcester, denies two counts of rape on April 1, 2017.

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The woman admitted to police she had ‘enjoyed’ sex with Hepburn on a mattress but says she thought the encounter was with his friend, fellow professional cricketer and then Worcestershire player Joe Clarke, who had already fallen asleep in a bathroom in the same flat after going there to be sick.

The woman and Mr Clarke had consensual sex earlier that morning after returning to the flat together from city nightclub Bushwackers, the jury heard.

She told the jury she did not know he had left the room and believed Hepburn was Mr Clarke.

Mr Clarke was also arrested as part of the police investigation because initially she could not remember having sex with him, the court heard.

The jury was told the two men had a similar build and she only realised it was Hepburn when she heard his Australian accent.

She told the jury: “I tend to shut my eyes when I’m having sex.”

But Michelle Heeley QC, representing Hepburn, said: “I suggest your eyes were open the entire time you were having sex with Mr Hepburn.”

The woman replied ‘no’ but agreed it would have been lighter when she had sex with Hepburn than when she had sex with Mr Clarke.

She denied telling Mr Clarke on a later occasion that she had ‘tried to get police to drop it all’ but acknowledged she felt she owed it to him to apologise because ‘it was nothing to do with him’.

Miss Heeley said the woman had sex for 20 minutes with the defendant.

Miss Heeley also referred to the witness’s original statement in which she said she had questioned whether she went home with Hepburn or Mr Clarke.

Miss Heeley said the complainant was ‘still a bit drunk’ and things would have been ‘a bit hazy’.

Miranda Moore QC, prosecuting, asked the woman if she had instigated the sexual encounter with Hepburn and she said no.

Miss Moore said: “Have you ever wanted to drop the case against Alex Hepburn?”

She replied ‘never’.

Joe Clarke also gave evidence, saying he and Hepburn had planned to share a bed if they didn’t ‘chop like the good old days’ (go home with a woman) while friends would sleep on the mattress.

He said during the night he got up to be sick, going to the other bathroom rather than the en suite. When the complainant woke him on the bathroom floor she said ‘Alex has raped me. I thought it was you’.

Mr Clarke told the jury: “I put my head in my hands. It was a massive shock.”

Mr Clarke described her as ‘distressed’ but not crying.

Mr Clarke told the jury he had been able to see the woman’s face when they had sex.

Mr Clarke said Hepburn was still his ‘best friend’.

The court heard that Hepburn has no previous convictions or cautions, submitted a prepared statement denying the rapes and later gave a no comment interview to police.

DC Edith Anderson, the officer in the case, said Mr Clarke had been approached for information to assist with the investigation but ‘wasn’t particularly helpful’ so a decision was taken by officers to arrest him but that he later provided a full comment interview.

The original 999 call was also played to the jury when the complainant can be heard sobbing and crying in the background.

A woman on her way to work had called police just after 5am when she saw the complainant in the street, describing her as ‘wailing’ with make-up running down her face.

A man who found her afterwards described her as ‘crying inconsolably’ and his wife referred to her as ‘a blubbering mess’.

The trial continues.