She was making sexual noises on the phone: How earl’s son justified sex with girl, 16

By
Neil Sears

Last updated at 1:24 AM on 12th January 2012


Accused: James Murray said the girl made sexual noises on the phone

Accused: James Murray said the girl made sexual noises on the phone

An aristocrat accused of raping a 16-year-old schoolgirl claimed she
invited sex by panting suggestively down the phone to him, a jury heard
yesterday.

The Hon James Murray, 42, the son of the Earl of Mansfield, was arrested
after the girl told police he attacked her in her sleep.

Murray claims they had been in a consensual relationship for ten days.
Oxford Crown Court heard that Murray, who was 41 at the time of the
alleged offence, was asked by police why he had started having sex with a
girl less than half his age.

He told officers: ‘I’ve rationalised it to myself that she sort of made
suggestive noises to me on the phone. It was sort of “Uh, uh, uh”
noises. It was late at night, and I thought there was a chance these
were suggestive of some sort of sexual attraction.’

The girl, a regular truant in foster care, told police Murray raped her
after giving her Ribena she feared was spiked with vodka or drugs.

The Old Etonian insists he gave her a ‘safe haven’ from an unhappy home
and their consensual relationship began a fortnight after she turned 16.

Murray, who has two previous convictions for drug possession and one for drink driving, denies rape.

The girl, now 17, maintains that she saw him only as a friend and was
disgusted to wake in the spare room at his flat in June 2010 to find her
tracksuit trousers around her knees and him naked in the bed beside
her.

Yesterday the jury heard Murray’s explanation to police of how he
got to know the girl, then 15, and her friends who were soon frequenting
his flat in Oxford.

Privilege: Murray grew up at historic Scone Palace, in Perthshire, Scotland

Privilege: Murray grew up at historic Scone Palace, in Perthshire, Scotland

Murray said around Christmas 2009, fellow residents in his block had
been bothered by teenagers damaging bikes and stealing post.

He was ‘trying to engage with the young people outside my house’ and
gradually became more friendly with the alleged victim, ultimately
giving her a key to his flat.

Murray told police: ‘I thought I was offering a safe haven from her home life.’

He claimed he had no sexual feelings towards her until a fortnight after
her 16th birthday. First she made the ‘sexual’ noises down the phone,
then she spent the evening at his flat along with a boy of 16.

Murray
told police: ‘The boy said, “I think you guys want to have sex with each
other so I’m going to go away”.’

Shortly after, said Murray, he sat next to the girl on the sofa and
asked: ‘How would you respond to me saying that we can have sex?’

Family: Viscount Stormont, the 8th Earl of Mansfield and his wife

Family: Viscount Stormont, the 8th Earl of Mansfield and his wife

He claimed the girl replied: ‘I could do that – but don’t expect me to
do anything.’

He told officers he took this to mean that she would
consent to sex, but would not ‘jump around or do certain things’.

He
said he then instigated sexual activity with her in bed, with her still
wearing her socks and black hoodie, and added: ‘I felt that was what she
wanted.’

Asked if she touched him sexually, he replied: ‘Not really, no. She was
quite static and motionless and would keep her eyes tightly closed.’

Murray told police they went on to have sex six times in the following ten days.

She reported him for rape, by his account, only because he urged her to get the morning-after pill after a condom split.

The case continues.

 

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