High-flying consultant dressed as James Bond 'raped woman after she was sent home from fancy dress party for being too drunk'

A pharmaceuticals consultant dressed as James Bond raped a woman after she was sent home from a fancy dress Christmas party for being too drunk, a court heard.

Rowan Nidd, 40, took the intoxicated woman back to his flat and tried to have sex with her when she “collapsed” on to his bed, it is said.

When she came round just after 5am, she texted a friend to say Nidd had been “trying to have sex with me”, adding: “I don’t know how I got here.”

Blackfriars crown court heard Nidd donned a James Bond costume as he and the woman partied with friends at a “heroes and villains” fancy dress bash at the Monument pub in December 2015.

Prosecutor Alisdair Smith said the woman, who cannot be identified, had drunk gin and tonics, beer and Prosecco, and appeared to be the worse for wear as they headed for an after-party at around 2am.

“By the end of the evening it was clear she was drunk and not really able to look after herself”, he said.

Nidd, a high-flying consultant who has worked for pharmaceutical firms including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Volt Pharma Associates, was asked to take her home, but instead he ordered an Uber and took her to his flat in Canonbury.

“He took her back to his flat, she has a vague recollection of arriving and being led into the flat, then the door being opened into his bedroom”, Mr Smith told the jury.

“When she got into the bedroom, she simply collapsed on to the bed on top of the covers.

“She has a recollection of him trying to persuade her to get under the covers, but she told him she just wanted to sleep.”

She claims Nidd, who took off his James Bond costume and got into bed wearing a t-shirt and boxer shorts, then pulled off her underwear and tried to have sex with her as she lay on the bed fully clothed.

“She was not responding to his advances, and he must’ve known that”, added Mr Smith.

The prosecutor said the woman told police she had flirted with Nidd at the party the previous evening, but was not interested in having sex with him.

“Alcohol played a part in these events and you will need to consider what people had to drink and what effect it had on them”, said Mr Smith.

“People were drinking, there was dancing going on, and some flirting between people. (She) has never hidden the fact she flirted with Mr Nidd at the party.”

The court heard one of Nidd’s friends, after telling him to take the woman home, sent a text saying: “Hey mate, let me know when you get (her) safely home, she needs to be taken home to sober up.”

He later told police he took her to his flat because she was unable in the taxi to tell him where she lived.

After the alleged rape, she messaged a friend to say: “Woke up at Rowan’s, I don’t know what to do. He’s been trying to have sex with me, I’ve just been lying here hoping he would stop. I don’t know how I got here.”

She added: “Just stayed still but he wouldn’t stop, he has taken my underwear off. I don’t know what to do.”

Nidd was arrested a week later and denied trying to have sex with the woman, telling detectives any sexual contact was instigated by her.

He said she had rubbed against him in bed but this may have been accidental, and he also claimed she had put her hand down his trousers during the fancy dress party.

Nidd, who now lives in St Albans, denies rape, attempted rape, assault by penetration, and sexual assault.

The trial continues.