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  "path": "/news/james-holder-superdry-cofounder-rape-guilty",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-01T13:05:40.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Failed asylum seeker found guilty of trying to break into Israeli Embassy to launch knife attack",
    "Labour mayor who helped son conceal evidence of raping 15-year-old girl jailed",
    "Driver who killed two schoolgirls in Wimbledon crash charged as original decision reversed",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nThe co-founder of clothing brand Superdry has been found guilty of rape following a night out drinking.\n\nJames Holder, 54, of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, was convicted by a jury at Gloucester Crown Court, sitting in Cirencester, after four hours of deliberation.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nHe showed no emotion as the verdict was returned.\n\nThe multimillionaire businessman had denied the charge, insisting any sexual activity between him and the complainant was consensual.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe court heard that in the early hours of May 7, 2022, following a night out at a bar in Cheltenham, Holder and a friend went back to the woman's home uninvited.\n\nHe fell asleep on her bed, then woke and beckoned the woman, who had gone to sleep in the lounge, into her bedroom, where he raped her.\n\nGiving evidence, the woman said she was crying and asking Holder to stop throughout the ordeal, but he continued regardless.\n\nShe said he forced her to attempt to perform oral sex on him before the rape.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nWhen his barrister suggested it had been \"a drunken sexual encounter that you regret\", the woman replied simply: \"Incorrect.\"\n\nWhen the court was told that the \"sex\" had lasted approximately 20 minutes, the woman replied: \"I call it rape.\"\n\nThe ordeal ended when she managed to escape from the bedroom.\n\nHolder left her home shortly afterwards.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * Failed asylum seeker found guilty of trying to break into Israeli Embassy to launch knife attack\n  * Labour mayor who helped son conceal evidence of raping 15-year-old girl jailed\n  * Driver who killed two schoolgirls in Wimbledon crash charged as original decision reversed\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nIn his own evidence, Holder told the jury the woman had kissed him first and that it was \"evident what she wanted to happen\".\n\nHe said she had consented throughout and that he had not seen or heard her crying at any point.\n\nThe fashion brand co-founder said he left the flat afterwards because he had been out longer than anticipated and needed to get home, adding: \"She was asleep on the bed.\"\n\nProsecutor James Haskell suggested Holder had gone to the woman's doorway specifically to entice her to the bedroom, telling him: \"You saw something you wanted and you took it.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nHolder denied the allegation.\n\nThe jury acquitted Holder of a separate charge of assault by penetration but found him guilty of rape.\n\nHe was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing at Bristol Crown Court on May 7.\n\nHis barrister asked the judge to grant bail as \"a matter of mercy\" to allow Holder to say goodbye to his wife and children and put his affairs in order.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nRecorder David Chidgey refused, saying Holder was a flight risk given his considerable wealth.\n\nHe said: \"The temptation to attempt to use his considerable resources to flee is too great as he faces a considerable custodial sentence.\"\n\nHe added: \"On one view, the victim in this case did not have the opportunity to put her affairs in order when she suffered an appalling, distressing event.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Superdry co-founder James Holder found guilty of rape"
}