Footballer, 33, ‘raped woman as she slept’ hours after cup final win at Wembley – before sending explicit photos to pals

A FOOTBALLER raped a woman as she slept before sending explicit photos of her to his teammates, a court has heard.

Michael Emery, 33, brought the woman back to a hotel after spending the night celebrating Warrington Rylands FC’s FA Vase win on May 22, 2021.

St Albans Crown Court heard they initially had consensual sex, which the woman described as “vanilla”, before the defendant fell asleep.

But she allegedly later awoke to find Emery biting her “really hard” on her left thigh and breast.

The woman said “ow twice” and told him she didn’t want to have sex, before Emery allegedly raped her, the court heard.

She subsequently “played dead” while he continued to bite her, before allegedly raping her for a second time, jurors were told.

Charlotte Newel KC, prosecuting, said the alleged offences took place at a hotel in Watford.

The woman had consumed six or seven bottles of beer over eight hours and was said to be “merry but not drunk,” the court heard.

Opening the case, Ms Newell said: “Whilst she was asleep, Mr Emery demonstrated his total disregard for the autonomy and consent of the woman he had intercourse with by taking photographs of her naked without her knowledge and distributing them shortly before 4am amongst his teammates.”

Emery is accused of sending explicit pictures to two WhatsApp group chats, allegedly writing: “Anyone want a go?”.

“She knew nothing of this and would never have consented to such pictures being taken,” Ms Newell added.

In a police interview, the woman said: “I think that when it first sort of hit me a bit… I was feeling quite wavy, for want of a better way of putting it.”

The woman confided in her two friends about the alleged rapes first, before approaching her GP on May 27, 2021, the court heard.

Her injuries were assessed, samples were taken and she was referred to a counselling service for victims of sexual assault, jurors were told.

She was reluctant to go to the police at the time as she was aware of rape conviction statistics, the court heard.

But due to Emery’s association with a women’s football team, she decided to tell Mark Pye, Warrington Rylands club chairman, about the alleged attack.

After contacting Samaritans for help, she reported him to the police on August 16, 2021.

Following a recorded interview, Emery was arrested on September 29, 2021.

He claimed they had consensual sex three times.

Emery also said she appeared fine and “showed no signs of being unhappy” when she left the hotel room the following morning.

However, he failed to mention the images and refused to answer questions about them, the court heard.

The footballer denies two counts of rape and one count of disclosing private sexual photos with intent to cause distress.

The case continues.