Liverpool manager's son, 3 other footballers in dock over sexual assault charges

Four footballers from Brighton and Hove Albion, including Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers' son, have denied charges of sexual assault and voyeurism against a 19-year-old woman in a court.

A group of footballers took pictures of themselves sexually assaulting a drunken 19-year-old woman, the Old Bailey has heard, the Sky News reports. The jurors were informed that the Brighton and Hove Albion players wanted to have a permanent record of their conquest, the paper said.

The four men took the young woman back to their hotel room and assaulted her after celebrating victory for their club in the Sussex Senior Cup, it was alleged. 19-year old Anton Rodgers, along with Lewis Dunk, 21, George Barker, 21, and former teammate Steve Cook, 21, who now plays for Bournemouth, have all denied sexual assault and voyeurism charges.

The offences are said to have happened at the Jury's Inn Hotel in Brighton in July 2011, the paper further reported. Giving evidence from behind a curtain, the alleged victim said she had visited four clubs that night but was not drunk despite drinking seven alcohol shots and sharing a bottle of beer, it further said.

In the final club, where footballers were, she had a sip of a soft drink but could not remember anything else until she woke up at 11am the next morning in the hotel room feeling drowsy. The woman said she discovered the pictures after asking to use Rodgers'' phone, it further added. The girl said she woke up next to Rodgers, who was asleep in his underwear, and added she felt ashamed, embarrassed and couldn''t believe it had happened. The families of the accused, including Rodgers'' father, were in the public gallery during Tuesday''s hearing, as the case continues.

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