Woman denies trying to kiss footballers

A woman yesterday denied voluntarily getting into a hotel bed with two footballers.

The 21-year-old also refuted a defence suggestion that she tried to kiss and cuddle George Barker and Anton Rodgers, the son of Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers, who were dressed in their boxer shorts.

The woman has accused four members of Brighton and Hove Albion football club of assaulting her while she was passed out in a hotel room in Brighton.

The prosecution alleges the players took mobile phone photographs showing lewd scenes.

The woman has admitted telling lies to police and her employers but maintains she is telling the truth about having no recollection of what went on in the room.

Mark Cotter, defending Barker, said: “I suggest to you that Mr Rodgers and Mr Barker were in the double bed in their boxer shorts and you got into bed between them.

“I suggest you initiated an attempt to kiss and cuddle Mr Rodgers and then did the same with Mr Barker.”

The woman replied: “I definitely did not.”

Cotter suggested she was “a prolific liar” who had lied about photographs she had seen on a mobile phone.

Asked if she had “seriously exaggerated” the contents of pictures, she said: “It was humiliating and they should not have done it. They have to live with it.”

Brighton players Anton Rodgers, aged 19, Lewis Dunk, aged 21, and George Barker, aged 21, and former team-mate Steve Cook, aged 21, who now plays for Bournemouth, deny sexual assault and voyeurism.

The offence is alleged to have taken place in Jul 2011 at the Jurys Inn in Brighton after the club’s victory in a cup match. The only picture found on the men’s phones was of Barker posing by his initials in foam on the woman’s thigh.

The woman, who was 19 at the time, said she had been drinking in clubs but denied she had 15 shots of alcohol before passing out.

She denied that she had “thrown herself” at the defendants after being snubbed by one of the players she was friendly with.

The trial continues.