Swimming pool workers' rape claims

A SWIMMING pool attendant raped two young female assistants in a first aid room at a South Yorkshire leisure centre where they worked, a court heard.

Tom Winstanley, aged 28, is alleged to have attacked both women, who were employed as attendants at the leisure centre, on a number of occasions.

The victims claim Winstanley, of Moor Road, Wath Upon Dearne, used his slightly senior position as a stand-in manager to force them into sex.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sheffield Crown Court heard one of the women was “frightened” of him and didn’t want to lose her job so “effectively subjected herself to his advances” on up to 10 occasions over a four-month period.

The other claims she was targeted after being “pestered” into a relationship with Winstanley.

He denies six charges of rape - three against each woman - and claims he had regular, consensual sex with both of them.

Winstanley was arrested after the girls reported him to management in October last year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

When interviewed by police, he denied the allegations and said he had been in a relationship with the older woman who had regularly visited him at home for sex.

But the relationship had “fizzled” out following repeated rows and rumours she was still seeing an ex-boyfriend, he said.

A close friend of the complainant said she had initially spoken very highly of Winstanley and had admitted she liked him. But a few weeks later she received a text from her saying things had “gone too far” against her will.

The trial continues.