Alleged rape victim denies seeking ‘victory’ over ex-Britain’s Got Talent singer

A woman who has accused a former Britain’s Got Talent contestant of rape has denied plotting with another alleged victim to get a “victory” over him.

Andrew Johnston, 30, who competed as a singer on the TV programme in 2008, is on trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court, charged with raping and sexually assaulting one woman and raping another woman.

The alleged offences happened a number of years after he appeared on the talent show, the prosecution has said.

Johnston, of Carlisle, Cumbria, denies two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

On Tuesday, one of the women told the court: “I can tell you that at no point was there a feeling that ‘we have got him’. It was not a victory. This does not feel like a victory.”

She later added: “I do not believe any point in this process is there something that has looked like a celebration. It is not joyful. There has been no assurance of any outcome at any point.

“It has been something that has been done purely because I feel it is the right thing.”

Asked by defence counsel Rupert Kent if she was trying to hide collusion between herself and the other woman, she replied: “I am not.”

The court heard she had received a selfie from the first alleged victim who was winking in the image.

Mr Kent asked her if it is possible the other alleged victim had “managed to affect your interpretation of events” or if “she has put any pressure on you”.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, the second woman told the court it had taken her months to process what had happened and the alleged rape went on to affect different areas of her life.

She told the court: “My interpretation of events developed when I found that things in my life like intimate relations with my boyfriend were affected.”

The woman had said she was having consensual sex with Johnston and asked him to use a condom.

In her police interview, she said she moved his hands away because he was “actively grabbing” towards her throat and she was “trying to insinuate that this is not OK”.

At some point he stopped and removed the condom, and carried on having sex, the court heard.

Johnston stayed the night of the alleged attack and they watched a show on a laptop.

On the suggestion it should have been immediately obvious she had been raped, the woman said: “No, I think it takes time to work out.”

She added: “I wanted to gloss over it. I wanted to be able to move on and not to be dealing with years of the aftermath of this.”

Some time after the incident, she invited Johnston for a meal and also for a coffee.

The woman told the jury the dinner invitation was offered because she wanted to find something “more gentle” out of the violence and “wanted to be treated as a human being”. She saw the coffee invitation as a possible chance to have a conversation.

She recalled having a “wobble” when she tried to get close with a new boyfriend, not being able to wear turtlenecks and that she has had a lot of therapy to try to deal with other issues.

On Tuesday, the woman’s ex-boyfriend recalled a time when she “recoiled” and “retreated” from him when they were intimate.

He recalled she was “crying and very upset” and then she spoke about Johnston.

The court heard the woman told him: “He (Johnston) became aggressive. She told him to stop but he did not. She tried to push him off with both hands on his chest but failed to get him off.

“He (Johnston) kept on going on, then something happened where she was grabbed, pressure put on her neck.

“She lay there in bed, unsure what to do.”

The boyfriend tried to be supportive and “it was clear that she was trying to deal with it” and it took her “quite a while” to calm down, the jury heard.

Johnston has stressed to police that he did not assault either woman.

He told detectives in his interview regarding the first woman that they “at no time” had sex which was not consensual.

He also told detectives regarding the second woman that they “at no point” had sex that was not consensual.

He also said she did not ask him to stop, he did not discard the condom and he was not rough with her.

The hearing continues.