Premiership rape claim girl calls PR guru

THE 17-year-old girl who claims she was gang raped by a string of football stars has contacted a leading public relations consultant, it emerged yesterday.

Max Clifford said the girl and her father had called him but he stressed they had made no mention of selling her story. He said they wanted advice and protection from a "media scrum" developing around them.

"I have already been discussing this with the girl, and her father because they have asked me to advise them and to protect them," Mr Clifford said.

"They are very conscious of the fact that people they know are being approached by all kinds of people claiming to be the media with all kinds of information. No-one is discussing anything about selling stories," he said.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa yesterday said none of its football players was involved in the alleged gang rape. The Birmingham team is the first Premiership football club to make a public statement on the matter.

Aston Villa was one of six Premiership clubs playing in London last weekend when the girl alleges she was attacked at a top hotel.

A Villa spokesman said: "We can categorically confirm neither Aston Villa nor any of its players are being investigated in relation to the alleged incident in London at the weekend."

The sixth-former at a Catholic school who made the claims said she consented to sex with one player at the exclusive Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, central London, but was then attacked by a group of up to seven others.

The players alleged to have been involved are from more than one Premiership club. Newspapers are unable to print their names for

legal reasons but rumours about their identities have flooded the internet and circulated among fans.

Lawyers for some of the footballers have threatened legal action if their names are published. There are fears chants identifying the players could be used on the terraces this weekend.

Television and radio broadcasters could inadvertently open themselves up to legal problems if the words are picked up on their microphones.

The girl has given a statement to police and may now be shown pictures of the footballers to identify them. They may have to give DNA samples and police are also expected to talk to their managers.

One of the players against whom an allegation was made, an England international, is understood to be claiming he has an alibi.

Suspicion fell on him because he booked a room at the hotel but he says he went out to dinner with another woman. He then went back to the hotel and straight to bed with her in a different room to the one where the attack is alleged to have taken place.

Scotland Yard's Operation Sapphire team, which deals with sex crimes, has carried out forensic tests on items taken from the hotel.

Meanwhile, the attorney general has received a complaint about a newspaper article alleging which Premiership club is at the centre of the rape claims.

A complaint was made by lawyers acting for one of the players following publication of the article in the Daily Sport.

A spokesman for attorney general Lord Goldsmith QC said he was looking at the complaint. He will decide whether to prosecute the newspaper for contempt of court. The article was published under the headline Premiership Sex Scandal Club at Centre of Gang-bang Police Quiz".

Lawyers for the player fear the report, when cross referenced with details in other reports, could reveal his identity a process known as jigsaw identification.