A British jury on Friday found James Holder, a co-founder of the Superdry fashion brand, guilty of raping a woman in 2022.
Mr. Holder, 54, rose to fame in the mid-2000s as the streetwear brand went from ambitious British company to global chain, its products sported by celebrities.
The jury convicted him of rape after a five-day trial that began on Monday, in Gloucester Crown Court in southwest England. It acquitted Mr. Holder of a second charge, assault by penetration.
Mr. Holder had denied the charges, acknowledging a sexual encounter with a woman but testifying that he believed it was consensual, according to the BBC. Mr. Holder’s attorney did not respond to questions about whether he would appeal the conviction.
The court denied Mr. Holder’s request for bail, deeming him a flight risk because of his financial resources. He is scheduled to be sentenced in May.
The maximum penalty for rape in Britain is life imprisonment, and the average sentence is 10 years, according to the Ministry of Justice.
The prosecutor said Mr. Holder raped the woman in May 2022, in Cheltenham, a town in southwest England. Mr. Holder testified that he had been drinking at a local bar with several people, including the victim.
He later took a taxi with the woman to her apartment, along with a friend, according to the BBC’s account of testimony at the trial. Mr. Holder testified that he and the woman later had sex and that he believed she had given “completely full consent.”
The woman testified that Mr. Holder had forced her onto a bed, where he raped her. He ignored her objections, saying sorry a few times but continuing to sexually assault her, prosecutors told the court.
The woman reported the incident to the police and recorded a statement in July 2022. Prosecutors submitted images of the woman’s bruised wrists as evidence, according to the BBC.
Mr. Holder resigned from Superdry in 2016 and ended a consultancy arrangement with it in 2019, the company said.
“The offense for which he has been convicted relates to an event in 2022, long after any role with Superdry had ended,” the company said in a statement.
Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
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