THE jury in the trial of a Northwich businessman accused of raping a woman as she slept has retired to consider their verdict.

Judge Michael Leeming summed up all the evidence heard during the four-day trial at Chester Crown Court on Friday (August 26).

During the trial, the jury heard about allegations made by a woman accusing 41-year-old Benjamin James Kershaw of raping her as she slept in her own bed on January 24, 2018.

Although they had known each other for many years, the pair met by chance and got chatting at a mutual friend’s birthday party on or around December 16, 2017.

This encounter led to them chatting on Facebook Messenger, before they exchanged phone numbers and started to communicate via text message and WhatsApp instead.

The chats led to a night out in Manchester on January 13, 2018, when the woman said she joined Kershaw as his “plus-one” at an event in a fancy bar.

She alleged the pair had an angry altercation later that evening when Kershaw told her he had booked a room at the Hilton hotel and asked her to stay over. She said Kershaw took her handbag off her and threw it back at her as she left to go home in a taxi.

The defendant denied such an incident had taken place - that he had never booked a room at the hotel. He even told the jury how he gave a taxi driver £100 in cash to take the woman home.

Just days later, the pair went out for a meal to Piccolino in Chester – an outing the woman only admitted to remembering when she was told about Kershaw’s defence by a police officer in April of this year.

Kershaw alleged there had been another “date” to the Old Sessions House in Knutsford that week, although the woman denied this claim, saying how that visit took place on the way to the party in Manchester on January 13.

The woman’s nan died on January 19, and it is accepted by both parties that Kershaw visited her at her home on the evening on Tuesday, January 23.

He brought her flowers and chocolates and the pair watched tv before falling asleep on the sofa.

The woman went on to say how Kershaw asked to stay over because he had a business meeting the next morning, and although she reluctantly agreed, told him he had to sleep on the sofa.

She recalled how not long after going to bed, Kershaw came upstairs and asked to sleep in her bed, which she again reluctantly agreed to, but made it clear to him that nothing was to happen.

However, in the early hours she recalled waking up to Kershaw on top of her, having sex with her, saying how she froze during the incident.

Kershaw told the jury a different version of the incident, and although he agreed the pair fell asleep on the sofa, recalled how when they woke up, it was her who invited him upstairs before they kissed and had consensual sex.

The woman reported the matter to the police in September 2020, first via a telephone call made to 101 – the audio recording of which was played during the trial – and then in a video interview to achieve best evidence, which was shown to the jury.

As he sent the jury away to consider their verdict, Judge Leeming told them to carefully consider all the evidence they had heard over the past four days.

“Please do not feel that you need to rush your decision,” he said.

“You are under no pressure at all.

“I do not expect you to reach a verdict on this matter today.”

If a verdict isn’t reached by 4pm on Friday (August 26) the jury will be sent home and will reconvene to continue their deliberations on Tuesday, August 30.