Jury retires in trial of Britain’s Got Talent finalist accused of rape
Andrew Johnston told the court he has ‘never sung a note’ since the allegations were made.
A jury has retired to consider its verdicts in the trial of a Britain’s Got Talent finalist accused of raping two women.
Andrew Johnston, 30, competed as a singer on the television programme in 2008, landing a lucrative record deal with Simon Cowell after finishing third.
He is now on trial at Southwark Crown Court charged with raping and sexually assaulting one woman and raping another.
Prosecutors allege that he twice took a condom off during sex and continued with the intercourse.
One of the women also claims he groped her bottom and kissed her when she saw him at a club.
The alleged offences happened a number of years after Johnston shot to fame as a choirboy on the ITV show, Maryam Syed KC, prosecuting, told the jury previously.
Ms Syed said Johnston had been “engaging in consensual sexual activity” with one of the women, but he allegedly removed his condom, and she “repeatedly told Mr Johnston to stop” but he did not.
The woman told the jury that after the alleged rape she stayed over because she “felt frozen”.
The other woman told police she engaged in consensual sex with the singer and asked him to use a condom.
The woman said she started to feel his hands around her neck and “no matter how many times she removed them”, he kept putting his hands back around her throat, Ms Syed said.
He then stopped and removed the condom, then carried on with the sex, it is alleged.
Johnston’s case is that both women have told “a pack of lies”, the court heard during cross-examination.
He described his lovemaking as “fast, energetic, maybe a bit passionate” but told the jury he was never aggressive, always used a condom and the sex was consensual.
Johnston told the court he has “never sung a note” since the allegations were made against him and he has suffered from depression, his mental health is “terrible” and he has broken up with a girlfriend.
The singer, who was born in Dumfries, Scotland, but moved when he was about eight months old, released an album that went to number four in the UK charts and appeared on tour with other Britain’s Got Talent finalists.
Johnston, of Newtown Road, Carlisle, Cumbria, denies the charges.
