Ex-Newcastle United striker Nile Ranger 'raped woman in hotel room after hounding her with WhatsApp messages after she told him she just wanted to be friends'

Former Newcastle United footballer Nile Ranger raped a woman in a hotel room after sending her a string of messages on WhatsApp, a court heard today.
The woman was attacked while drunk days after telling the 22-year-old striker that she just wanted to be friends, the jury was told.
Ranger - who now plays for League One side Swindon Town - claims that the woman consented to sex.
 
Accused: Nile Ranger, 22, who now plays football for Swindon Town, is seen arriving at Newcastle Crown Court today with a female companion.

 
The court heard the woman was so drunk that she remembers nothing of the alleged attack and only discovered what had happened when she woke up naked next to him the following morning.
The pair spent the evening drinking together in Newcastle on the night of the alleged attack before going back to a hotel room in the Jesmond area of the city.
Christine Egerton, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court: 'They met up by arrangement and went socialising together. As far as she was concerned they were friends, as far as he was concerned he wanted more. It went further than that as he was pestering her. 
'She was so intoxicated either through drink or something unknown she found it difficult to walk and she has no memory whatsoever of what occurred.
'When she woke up in the morning she found she was naked in bed with the defendant who was also naked.
'She had no idea where she was. She asked the defendant where they were and if they had had sex. He said they had and she should take the morning after pill.
'She was upset and ran to the bathroom. She found out she was in the Carlton Hotel in Jesmond.
'She left the hotel, she didn't even know how to get out. She used her phone to ring a taxi and she got in the taxi and went home.

 

'He was interviewed and asked by police to give his version of events,' she added. 'He agreed that he had been with the victim that night and that they had been in a hotel room. He said that they had sex twice that night. He said she was consenting.'
The jury were shown CCTV footage of Ranger and the victim getting out of a taxi. The victim could not stand straight as she got out of the taxi and had to be helped into the hotel by the defendant.
Christine Egerton said: 'The CCTV footage clearly demonstrates the state she was in at the time. She fell out of the taxi.'
Earlier Judge John Evans told the jurors that they should ignore the footballer's 'celebrity status' when considering the evidence.
Judge John Evans told the jury: 'The defendant is a man who some time ago played football for Newcastle United. He is no longer at that club, he is at another club.
'At the time he played at Newcastle United inevitably in the minds of some he acquired a celebrity status amongst the media and many members of the public.
'The defendant is on trial and you should approach him in the same way as you would approach any other member of the public on trial for this allegation.'
Ranger, from London, denies raping the woman on January 22 last year.
The case continues.