Insurance worker "raped after her wine was spiked"

A sales manager with a leading City insurance company raped a younger woman in its City offices, an Old Bailey Court heard yesterday.

The Daily Telegraph reported today that Peter Simes, claimed in court that the woman consented to sex. Prosecution lawyer Stella Reynolds said the woman was "so severely affected by something she had ingested or drunk she was only half aware of what was happening to her."

Miss Reynolds said in September Simes took the woman to lunch at a Balls Brothers near the Skandia Insurance company where she worked. Soon after drinking some wine she "noticed a funny burning sensation in her stomach" and felt unwell.

The court heard that the woman fell ill and passed out in the lavatory. The next time she came to, she found Simes on top of her having sex with her.

Miss Reynolds said the samples of alcohol showed a slight trace of alcohol but not enough for her to be drunk at the time of the alleged incident. However she added that the evidence would give "clear evidence of intoxication".

Simes denies rape. The trial continues.