The trial of four men – including rugby star Paddy Jackson – accused of various crimes, including rape, continues in Belfast.
When asked by barrister Arthur Harvey QC what he did on the evening of June 30, when police called him and asked him to also come to the station, defendant Blane McIlroy said: “After the police phoned me, I went into the living room and basically told my parents everything that had happened from Paddy (Jackson)’s house to the next day. My Dad just said ‘go and tell the truth’, and that’s what happened.”
He also admitted deleting five texts between him and his co-accused Rory Harrison which mentioned the woman. When asked why, he said: “When the police phoned me, I just panicked. I thought they didn’t read well and I deleted them, but in hindsight I shouldn’t have.”
The account he gave to police – which he repeated to the jury – was branded as “complete Fantasy Island” by the Crown barrister.
This week, the jury has heard inconsistencies regarding what occurred in Jackson’s bedroom from Jackson, Stuart Olding and McIlroy.
Under cross-examination from Mr Toby Hedworth QC, McIlroy was asked “has the penny not dropped that even your own friends have suggested your story is wrong?” This was rejected by the defendant, who said: “I have told the truth from the word go.”
Pointing out that at no stage in her evidence did the woman suggest there was any sexual activity between her and McIlroy, Hedworth then asked McIlroy, “do you have any idea how preposterous your account is?” Again, McIlroy said he was telling the truth.
Hedworth accused McIlroy of giving Olding’s “false version of events” to police, telling McIlroy “you never had any of this sexual activity you described.” The prosecutor also suggested that his “hatched account … this put-up job of a defence” was “coming apart at the seams.”
McIlroy replied “that’s not correct.”
Hedworth said McIlroy’s use of the term ‘brasses’ encapsulated how he felt about the women at the party that night, and that he viewed the complainant as “there for your own sexual gratification.” Again, McIlroy rejected this, saying “that’s incorrect.”
Reporting by Ashleigh McDonald for M&M News Services.
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