Man jailed after hotel room rape

Michael Whitehead (44) had pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to raping the woman.

But after deliberating for more than seven hours, the jury found him guilty of rape by a majority of 10-2, and of a sexual assault charge, which he had also denied, by a majority of 11-1.

Whitehead, of Welford Road, South Kilworth, near Lutterworth, was jailed for four years. Recorder Peter Cooke also ordered him to register as a sex offender for life.

The court heard that the offences took place in 2014 while Whitehead, who worked for the international freight and logistics company Kuehne and Nagle, was attending a company function at the Holiday Inn hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon back in 2014.

Prosecutor Anthony Potter said: “Mr Whitehead cynically took advantage of the complainant, a woman who was so drunk she had been sick.

“He took her to his room and, having sexually assaulted her, the prosecution say he raped her.”

The woman said she had been in the bar of the hotel and had ‘fallen into conversation’ with Whitehead, before being sick twice.

The next thing she can recall is being in a bedroom on the bed, with Whitehead lying on top of her. “She wanted it to stop” said Mr Potter.

“She then recalls waking up some time in the morning. She became aware of Whitehead in the room. She did not have any clothes on.”

The woman left the hotel and contacted the police.

Whitehead had claimed the woman had become amorous towards him, and that the sexual activity between them had been fully consensual.