Sunderland's Jack Diamond says rape accuser initiated sex

A footballer accused of raping a woman tried to have sex with her because he thought she was in a "huff" after he initially rejected her advances, a court has heard.

Sunderland winger Jack Diamond, 23, denies raping and sexually assaulting the woman at his home in Fatfield, Washington, on 7 May 2022.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the pair agreed to be "friends with benefits" after matching on a dating app in 2019.

She said she just wanted a "cuddle".

Mr Diamond was arrested and interviewed on 8 May 2022 hours after the alleged assault, jurors heard.

He told police he had been to a pub in Washington on 7 May and messaged the woman at about 22:30 BST to invite her to his home "just for some company".

Mr Diamond said the woman got into bed with him and the couple, who were both just wearing underwear, started kissing and touching each other.

She then tried to "mount" him but he told her he didn't think sex was a "good idea", so she rolled over and turned her back to him, the court heard.

Mr Diamond told police he thought she was in a "strop" and "huff" because he had stopped her, so he started trying to kiss her again.

"I went to give her affection thinking she's, like, annoyed," he said, adding: "I went to start kissing her because obviously this is what she wants."

She pushed his hand away and said "no", Mr Diamond said, adding she said the "moment's gone" and left shortly after.

Detectives asked him if he was "happy" everything he did was consensual and he stopped when she asked him to, to which he replied "yeah".

The court heard the woman messaged a friend to say Mr Diamond had "tried to force himself" on her.

In a statement read to the court, the friend said he met her in her car and noted she was "shaking, white and crying".

They went into her home and told her parents, jurors heard.

The woman's father said he "felt sick to [his] stomach" and was in a "fit of rage", so he called police despite his daughter's pleas not to.

Mr Diamond told the court he had come out of a four-year relationship and was just looking for something "casual", adding the woman also wanted "something not very serious".

Mr Diamond said they would meet in their cars before he got his own home in November 2021.

After the first four to six months, he said she "started asking for more relationship stuff" which he didn't want, such as going on walks, taking the dogs out and going on "little trips".

Mr Diamond told the court upon reflection he had been "maybe a bit naïve" thinking it was possible to have a "sexual relationship" without someone developing feelings or getting hurt.

He said he ended up blocking her on Instagram and Snapchat after she falsely told another man that Mr Diamond had been sleeping with the man's girlfriend.

He heard nothing from her for months until his housemate, Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, started talking to her on Tinder.

Mr Diamond said in December 2021 they started their casual relationship again and they had sex once or twice a month up until May 2022.

His lawyer, Eleanor Laws KC, asked him if he felt he was "using her", to which Mr Diamond replied: "No, because we both had a mutual agreement."

Ms Laws asked: "Did you do anything to [the woman] without her consent?"

"Absolutely not," Mr Diamond replied, adding he would "never, ever" think about doing anything like that.

He said on reflection he was "regretful" about his "whole attitude and immaturity towards the relationship" and the "blindness towards how she actually felt".

The trial continues.

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