The co-founder of clothing firm Superdry has been jailed for eight years for raping a woman after a night out drinking.
James Holder, 54, of Cheltenham, had gone back to the woman’s home ‘uninvited’ before launching his attack in the early hours of May 7, 2022.
The multi-millionaire fashion boss fell asleep on her bed before waking up, luring the woman – who had been trying to sleep on the sofa – into her bedroom and raping her.
Addressing Holder at Bristol Crown Court today, Recorder David Chidgey said he had committed a ‘despicable piece of sexual violence’.
Holder, who appeared in court via video link from prison, did not react as the sentence was handed down.
At trial, he had denied charges of assault by penetration and rape and said what sexual activity took place between them was consensual.
A jury at Gloucester Crown Court, sitting in Cirencester, acquitted Holder of assault by penetration but found him guilty of rape.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – told Holder he had taken her ‘choice, dignity and body’.
James Holder, co-founder of Superdry, is escorted by a police officer as he leaves the court in Cirencester after being found guilty of raping a woman after a night out drinking
Superdry co-founder James Holder outside the court in Cirencester during the trial
James Holder attends a Superdry launch event at the company’s offices in January 2015
James Holder (right) co-founded Superdry with Julian Dunkerton (left) in 2003
‘What you did that day has followed me, it has cast shadows where there should be light,’ she continued.
The court heard the woman was attacked after a night out at a bar in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
Holder and a friend had gone back to her home uninvited, and he raped her after waking from a short nap on her bed.
Giving evidence, the woman said she was crying and asking the married father-of-two to stop but he carried on.
The ordeal ended when she managed to escape the bedroom, and Holder left her home a short time later.
At trial, it was heard that the businessman and philanthropist ‘adored sex’.
He claimed they had consensual sexual intercourse, but stopped when she said it was becoming painful.
Under cross-examination, Holder denied the reason he had gone to the woman’s home was that he ‘saw an opportunity to have sex with her’.
But the jury did not believe the businessman and convicted him of rape last week.