Jury return guilty verdicts in Brighton Beach rape trial prosecuted by Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC and Natalie Bird  

After a five week trial prosecuted by Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC and Natalie Bird, the jury have returned unanimous guilty verdicts against three defendants charged with raping  a woman on Brighton Beach in the early hours of 4 October last year.

Two of the men had repeatedly and violently raped the woman in the attack, whilst the third had filmed her ordeal  (and was convicted of rape as a secondary party).  All three had subjected her to additional degradation. The principal defendants had claimed that the intercourse was consensual whilst the secondary party denied encouraging the rapes.  The case concerned issues of capacity in connection with consent. 

All three men will be sentenced on 15 July.

You can read more about the case at 

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg090pe65vo, 
• https://news.sky.com/video/three-men-found-guilty-of-rape-on-brighton-beach-13535481, 
• https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/three-illegal-immigrants-guilty-of-brighton-beach-gang-rape-h03zhh00z, 
• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/23/three-hotel-migrants-convicted-of-brighton-gang-rape/