'I was naive, but it's affected the rest of my life...'

WOMAN BREAKS DOWN IN BUSINESS CHIEF'S RAPE TRIAL

- JOHN SCHEERHOUT

A WOMAN who alleged she was drugged and raped by a multimillionaire business chief tearfully told a jury she may have been 'naive' to go back to his flat but that the impact 'has affected the rest of my life!

The woman says the founder of tech firm UKFast - Lawrence Jones, then a pianist in Manchester hotels, attacked her at his flat in Salford in 1993 after she had gone to his apartment for a drink.

Under cross-examination on the second day of his trial, the woman told a jury at Manchester Crown Court: "Maybe I was naive. Maybe I was f***ing stupid because what happened after that certainly has affected the rest of my life."

The defendant played the piano in hotels in Manchester at the time but went on to found UKFast. Mr Jones, of Brooks Drive in Hale Barns, denies drugging and raping two young women at his flat in Salford in 1993. The prosecution say he 'stupefied' the women with unknown drugs before attacking them on separate occasions.