Benjamin Mendy accuser asked for Jack Grealish’s number after alleged rape, court hears
A teenager who accused footballer Benjamin Mendy of raping her asked for his Manchester City teammate Jack Grealish’s phone number hours after she claims the assault took place, a court has heard.
The woman alleged that 28-year-old Mendy raped her twice then, later the same day the Frenchman’s friend and co-accused Louis Saha Matturie, 41, also raped her twice during a post-clubbing “after-party” attended by Grealish and others at Mendy’s Cheshire mansion on 23 August last year.
Both defendants deny sexually assaulting the young woman.
The teenager said she asked Matturie for Mr Grealish’s phone number because she wanted to contact a woman she had seen with Mr Grealish at the party, Chester Crown Court was told.
Messages the-then 17-year-old sent to friends after leaving the party after the alleged rapes were read to the jury, after the trial resumed following a three-week break.
Defending Matturie, Lisa Wilding KC, read one message from the teenager, which said: “Jack Grealish is so sexy in person, he had been winking at you all night and saying how beautiful you were, but you did not sleep with him because you are not easy but you were invited out with them all next week.”
Ms Wilding went on: “These messages reveal how you really were that morning, happy, you had had a great night, that’s the truth of it?”
“No, that’s not true,” the witness replied.
Louis Saha Matturie
Ms Wilding said the young woman began to worry what her boyfriend would say if he found out she’d had sex with two men that night, that she allegedly got “carried away” and claimed she’d been raped.
Earlier, the trial heard the teenager and other young women went to Mendy’s Cheshire home after a visit to China White nightclub in Manchester.
She claims Mendy raped her twice in the office and trophy room at the house, and alleges Matturie raped her in the cinema room and later at his apartment near Manchester city centre.
‘Excitable’ voicemail recordings
The jury has also heard about “excitable” voicemail recordings made by the teenager and sent to her friends in a Snapchat group the day after the party.
In them, the teenager told friends: “Honest to God. Peak of my life…The Dom has gone to my head. Don’t you just love champagne when it’s one thousand five hundred quid?”
Mendy denies seven counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and one count of sexual assault against six young women.
Matturie of Eccles, Salford, denies six counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault relating to seven young women.
Both men say, if any sex did take place with women or girls, it was consensual.
The trial continues.
Comedy writer Bill Dare, – who worked on shows including Spitting Image and Dead Ringers – has died after an accident overseas, his agent said.
Described as a “super producer” by his peers, Dare, 64, worked on eight series of hugely popular satire puppet show Spitting Image.
Airing on ITV during the 1980s and 1990s, the show delighted in lampooning public figures including politicians, celebrities and royalty, winning BAFTAs and Emmys. It was rebooted in 2020.
Dare also created Dead Ringers, a comedy impressions show broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
He also produced The Now Show, a satirical take on the news which ran on Radio 4 from 1998 to 2024.
Dare worked on a wide range of comedy shows during his career, including the radio production of The Mary Whitehouse Experience in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He had also written several novels.
In a statement released on Monday, his agent JFL Agency confirmed he died at the weekend.
A spokesperson said: “We are shocked and greatly saddened to have to announce the death of our brilliant client Bill Dare, who died at the weekend following an accident overseas.
“Our thoughts are with his wife Lucy, daughter Rebecca, and with all of Bill’s family and friends who will be devastated by his loss.
“Bill was a truly legendary producer and writer, and his comedy instincts were second to none.”
Oasis depicted on Spitting Image in 1996. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
Colleagues were quick to pay tribute and reflect on his talent.
Impressionist Jon Culshaw wrote on X: “It’s impossible to express the unreal sense of loss at the passing of the incredible Bill Dare. The wisest comedy alchemist and the dearest, dearest friend. Much love to Lucy and all Bill’s family and friends. We shall all miss him more than we can say.”
David Baddiel posted on the social media platform: “Just heard that the original producer of The Mary Whitehouse Experience on radio, Bill Dare, has died. Bill was an amazing creative force. I owe him much. RIP.”
Former EastEnders actress Tracy-Ann Oberman said she was “devastated” and that her “entire comedy career was down to Bill”.
She wrote: “When I was on the BBC Radio 4 rep company early on in career – I ran into Bill in the corridors – He asked if I was good at accents. I said yes.
“He cast me in a sketch show. I had to do about 15 different accents. We recorded in front of a live audience at Broadcasting House – afterwards Bill said ‘Why have I never met you – you’re going to have a big career’.
“He was incredibly loyal and supportive and really opened a path for me into the R4 comedy world and then TV having come out of the RSC and theatre it was all new. I will always be grateful. Fly high Bill.”
Comedian and writer Mark Steel wrote: “This is so grim. Bill was a compassionate hearty soul with the ability to be beautifully grumpy, a marvellously thoughtful comic mind.
“He’d argue but always listen and you’d always laugh, he made a million shows and wanted them all to matter and would have made a million more.”
Have I Got News for You writer Pete Sinclair said: “I am utterly devastated by Bill’s death. I still can’t believe it. He was a comedy genius. A hugely talented writer as well as a brilliant producer. A close friend and co-writer. I cannot begin to say how much I’ll miss him.”
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Julia McKenzie, comedy commissioner for Radio 4, said: “I am so terribly sorry to hear this tragic news and my thoughts are with Bill’s wife, family and friends.
“Bill has been a huge part of Radio 4 comedy for decades, as a writer and producer, and listeners will have heard his legendary name at the end of many of their favourite shows.
“Bill was a comedy obsessive, and very instinctive about making the funniest choices when it came to writing, directing and editing.
“He cared so much about his work that in the production booth during Dead Ringers you’d see him crouched over the script, utterly focused on the show.
“He was funny and very dry in person, amusingly cynical when he needed to be and always pushed to keep the comedy he made, and particularly satire, spiky.
“I’ve known and worked with him for 18 years and like many I can’t believe he has gone, he will leave a big hole in the comedy world and in our hearts.”
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