Guest of Anthony Joshua, 26, cleared of raping woman after house party

Guest, 26, accused of assaulting woman as she slept after a house party hosted by boxing star Anthony Joshua sobs and thanks the jury as he is cleared of rape

• Aidan Simmons, 26, was cleared of rape after meeting the woman at the party 

A guest who was accused of assaulting a woman as she slept after a party thrown by former world boxing champion Anthony Joshua sobbed and thanked the jury as he was cleared today.

Aidan Simmons, 26, went to the woman’s friend’s home after leaving the ticketed event at the boxer’s home in north London in the early hours of 18 September 2022.

Simmons introduced himself to the two women as ‘Sunny’ and said he was attending the party at Joshua’s gated mansion with his friend ‘Angus’.

The four of them went back to her friend’s home in Hackney, east London and picked up a bottle of wine on the way.

The woman went straight upstairs to bed and called her boyfriend before falling asleep, jurors heard.

Aidan Simmons, 26, of Docklands, east London, was cleared of rape by a jury after claiming the sex was consensual

He and the alleged victim met at a house party hosted by former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (pictured in April)

She claimed her ‘next recollection’ was waking up lying on her back with Simmons having sex with her.

Simmons agreed he had sexual activity with the woman but insisted it was fully consensual.

He denied rape and was cleared by a jury of six women and six men after three hours and 46 minutes of deliberation at the Old Bailey.

Simmons said to the jury: ‘Thank you, thank you so much. God is with you, I love you, I love you’ before sitting and sobbing in the dock.

Relatives in the public gallery also sobbed and thanked the jury.

He had paid a £10,000 surety to be granted bail which will now be returned.

Giving evidence Simmons denied rape and branded the woman an ‘attention seeker’.

He said: ‘I am innocent, you cannot even imagine what this has done to me.

‘I have lost my position as manager (at work) and I am on anti-depressants, just because a girl wants to get some attention.

‘I went up to talk to her and I am 100 per cent sure that she was happy that I was there and that she let me in the bed.

‘Now I have to go through this and put my family through this, my mental health has gone down a lot and I have lost positions in my job.

‘I did not know she was sleeping. I would have never known that she was not aware of my presence otherwise I would not have set foot in her bed.

‘As far as I am aware, she was consenting and aware of what was going on.

‘I don’t get excited by having sex with an unconscious person, it does not turn me on.’

Simmons said he had lost his managing position and was on anti-depressants due to the allegations 

Prosecutor Julie Whitby earlier told the jury: ‘At some stage in the evening the woman’s friend had a drink with Sunny and this developed into flirting, and they exchanged a kiss.

‘The house party was at Anthony Joshua’s home, he was present, the parties may have seen him, but they did not know him.

‘It was a large house which had a gated premises. It was also a party where people were there and had to buy tickets.’

The complainant told her friend she wanted to leave at 4am.

‘The parties ordered an Uber, but the Uber rider didn’t show up or cancelled.

‘So the female’s friend then arranged for them to get a lift with Sunny and Angus in a different Uber.’

The four of them then made their way back to her friend’s home in Hackney, east London and picked up a bottle of wine on the way.

The alleged victim went straight upstairs to bed and called her boyfriend before falling asleep, jurors heard.

She said the ‘next recollection’ she had was waking up lying on her back with Simmons having sex with her.

Simmons was arrested at his home on the evening of 18 September and he was taken to the police station.

Simmons, of Docklands, east London, denied and was cleared of rape.

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