THE former partner of a woman accusing a Northwich businessman of raping her has cast some doubt on her version of what happened on the night in question.

Giving evidence at the trial of Benjamin James Kershaw, of Bishops Way in Winnington, the man told Chester Crown Court how he started to date the complainant about six months after the alleged incident took place.

He told the court how he had known both Kershaw, 41, and the woman for most of his life as they shared the same friendship group.

One morning in early January 2018, the man said how he got a telephone call from Kershaw to tell him he had slept with the woman the night before.

“It wasn’t unusual to speak to each other that early,” he said.

“He was my friend, that’s what lads do – we’d tell each other everything.”

He went on to say that he didn’t think much of it at the time and months later began a relationship with the woman, and although he had broached the subject of her and Kershaw having slept together got the impression 'she didn’t want to talk about it'.

However, at some point in early November 2019, the pair had an argument and he made 'an idiotic' comment to her about her sleeping with his friends, which made her break down in tears.

“She got upset and told me she’d never had consensual sex with Ben,” she said.

“I tried to calm her down, but she basically told me that Ben had raped her.

“This hit me like a tonne of bricks and none of it made sense as it was obviously a very serious allegation.

“She was sat on the floor crying and she told me the full story about what happened.”

He went on to say how nobody had questioned the woman 'more than him' about the alleged incident and how he didn’t speak to Kershaw after she sent a text message to the defendant telling him she knew what he had done and not to contact either of them ever again.

However, under cross-examination from defence barrister Daniel Travers, the man admitted how the woman had actually told him 'different accounts' about what had happened with 'different additions' on each occasion.

In a statement given to police in September 2020, he said how the woman had told him how she woke up to see Ben standing at the end of the bed.

“This was another account about what she said to me,” he said.

“She told me she woke up and he was standing at the edge of the bed and how he removed the covers from her.

“When he’d finished, she told me he’d said to her “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself”.

“On another occasion she told me how he gently took the covers away from her and that she was fully awake at the time and then he got on top of her.

“It was a very significant difference.”

On another occasion, following a night out in Northwich, the pair had discussed what had happened, and when he asked if Kershaw had 'tried his luck' when he got into bed with her, she had replied that he had.

“She said he put his arm over to her and she had slapped it back,” he added.

“This was the burden of our relationship for three and a half years.”

The trial continues.