Witham man Charlie Lawrence appears in court charged with rape

Charlie Lawrence, of Holst Avenue, in the town, is standing trial at Chelmsford Crown Court charged with one count of rape.

He denies the charge.

A jury was sworn in on Tuesday as proceedings began.

It is alleged that Lawrence, 32, entered an address in Witham in April 2021 before making his way upstairs and raping a woman in bed.

A 49-minute video of the woman’s police interview was played to the court on Tuesday afternoon as the prosecution opened its case against Lawrence.

In that interview, the woman said she had consumed some alcohol before going to bed on April 29.

She then said Lawrence entered the house in the middle of the night and raped her in her bedroom, which was pitch black.

Interview - the complainant gave a 49-minute interview with the police in 2021, with the recording played to the court on Tuesday as part of the trial (Image: Jonathon Taylor 9461)

The woman said she had no idea who was in her bed at the time, and only discovered it was Lawrence who had entered her address when she found him naked downstairs afterwards.

She told police officers she did not know how long the alleged attack lasted.

During the police interview, the woman said she had forgotten to lock the front door before going to bed.

The prosecuting barrister said: “Normally, she would lock her door so someone can’t come in from the outside, but she didn’t put the latch down that evening.

Trial - the trial is expected to run until the end of the week, or early into next week (Image: Google Street View)

“She went to sleep, and that, as far as she was concerned, was the end of the evening – but not as far as the defendant was concerned.”

The woman said she sent an incident report to the police a few hours later, adding she sat on the sofa in a daze after Lawrence had left the address.

She continued: “[When he left] he looked like he was on another planet – he was completely naked and getting his clothes on.

“He looked like he didn’t know what he was doing."

“I said to him, ‘get your shoes, get your phone and get out’.”

The trial continues.