Court hears woman’s description of being raped by friend of rapper Slowthai

Alex Blake-Walker is accused of raping the woman at a house party after a gig performed by the rapper, whose real name is Tyron Frampton

Slowthai during the Hyundai Mercury Prize 2019 (PA) (PA Archive)

A woman has described how a friend of Grammy-nominated rapper Slowthai forced himself upon her, a court heard.

Alex Blake-Walker is accused of raping the woman at a house party after a gig performed by the rapper, whose real name is Tyron Frampton.

Oxford Crown Court has heard how Blake-Walker was a friend of the rapper and was part of his entourage.

It is alleged Blake-Walker, 27, and Frampton, 29, raped two women at the party in the early hours of September 8 2021.

The prosecution alleges Blake-Walker raped one of the complainants while being encouraged by Frampton.

While Frampton had twice raped the other complainant while being encouraged by Blake-Walker.

It is said they both sexually assaulted the woman Frampton is alleged to have raped.

The court heard that the previous evening Frampton had been performing at The Bullingdon music venue in Oxford city centre.

After meeting fans afterwards, he went back to his tour bus before being invited to a party at a house where one of the female group lived.

The first complainant told the jury she had gone onto the roof of that property with the second complainant and the two defendants.

She said after talking they began kissing consensually, but then Blake-Walker forced her to perform a sex act upon him.

Sheryl Nwosu, representing Blake-Walker, suggested the consensual kissing led to consensual oral sex.

“Not willingly,” the woman replied.

Ms Nwosu asked: “You saw the other complainant do that, so you did the same thing?”

“No,” she replied.

Ms Nwosu asked: “When you were kissing Mr Blake-Walker he was not being aggressive to you. You were both enjoying that, a willing participant?”

“Yes,” she replied.

Ms Nwosu asked: “You began to give him oral sex?”

“No,” she replied.

The barrister asked the woman whether at point she had said she did not want to do it.

She replied: “When he pushed me down, I said I didn’t want to do that. I said repeatedly I wanted to go back inside.”

Ms Nwosu suggested the reason she stopped and fled was that she heard voices coming from the room adjacent to the roof.

“That’s not what caused me to stop – I didn’t want to do it in the first place,” the complainant replied.

“It was a very scary time, and it all happened very quickly. I don’t know why I didn’t call out to a specific person.”

Denying she was embarrassed, she described why she fled the house, telling the jury: “I wanted to get myself out of a very scary situation.

“I was scared.”

In a recorded interview with the police, the complainant said she was “excited” Frampton was going to the house.

“I think we were talking about how surreal it was that Slowthai was in the house. I think we were really excited and not believing it was actually happening,” she told officers.

“We found it really, really exciting.”

Frampton, of Wellingborough Road, Northampton, and Blake-Walker, of Wallbutton Road, south-east London, deny three joint charges of rape and one of sexual assault against two women.

The trial continues.