Showjumper, 37, threw away mobile phone and burned mattress days before being arrested over threesome with rider, 26, and underage girl, court told

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

A showjumper threw away his mobile phone and burned his mattress just days before being arrested over having a threesome with an underage girl and a horse rider, a court was told.
Horse-riding instructor Guy Simmonds, 37, and fellow rider Lauren Jarvis, 26, allegedly had sex with the schoolgirl in January last year despite knowing she was under 16.
Simmonds, who ran a riding school in the Monmouthshire village of Undy, is accused of six counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child.
His co-defendant Jarvis, from Newport, faces one count of the same offence. Both have denied all charges against them.
The jury at Cardiff Crown Court was this week played a police interview in which Simmonds claimed he threw his phone away at a Tesco supermarket because it was broken.
Simmonds also told police he either burned or threw away the mattress which the complainant alleges he abused her on in the back of his lorry because it was 'covered in faeces and urine from mice'.
In the interview he claimed he did not know the girl, who is now 16, was going to be at Jarvis' home when he visited on the day of a 'so-called threesome'.
But the court also heard he had sent Jarvis a text shortly beforehand asking: '[The child's name] there yet? Don't want to turn up the same time her mum drops her off.'
As the interview turned to the subject of the texts, Simmonds answered 'no comment' to many questions. When the officer asked why he did not want to see the girl's mother, he claimed they'd 'had a few words' previously but declined to explain further.
Simmonds had messaged Jarvis '5.30 for fun?' before the alleged sexual activity. When Jarvis wrote that the child had 'literally just walked in', he replied: 'I'll be five minutes.'
After the alleged abuse, Simmonds texted Jarvis: 'You both loved that haha.' The court heard Jarvis went on to text him: 'Yeah, you missed round two [wink emoji] xx.'
Simmonds answered 'no comment' when asked to explain the messages, before arguing that 'everything can be taken out of context'.
Pressed on why he had sent the texts, he said: 'In hindsight I can't remember. It was nothing to do with having sex with [the child] or Lauren.'
Earlier in the interview, Simmonds claimed he went to the house that day only to see Jarvis, and had not known the child would be there.
'They were just sort of having a girls' night, you know, films and stuff, which wasn't my scene,' he said. 'So I made my excuses and left after about 10 minutes.'
Asked if he had thought it was strange Jarvis was spending time with someone so young, he replied: 'I think, especially with girls, you tend to have quite an age gap between, you know, friends. If they're just doing normal 'girly night in' things, to me it wouldn't be something to raise.'
The girl alleges Simmonds took her into a horsebox on a number of occasions and penetrated her in the full knowledge she was underage. The court heard the abuse culminated in the 'so-called threesome'.
In the police interview, Simmonds described Jarvis as a 'friend with benefits'. He said he had sex with her about four times but then 'thought better of it' and decided to 'concentrate on what I've got with my partner'.
Simmonds claimed he could not have been 'any more frustrated' that days before his arrest he had thrown away his phone, which he alleged was broken. Asked if he had destroyed it to conceal evidence, he replied: 'I haven't.'
The girl alleges he had intercourse with her on a mattress in the back of a lorry. Simmonds responded that he had only had sex with his partner on the mattress, which he claimed he had since burned or thrown away due to its condition.
The interviewing officer also asked about a towel found in the lorry. Simmonds said this was likely to have his semen on it but that this would only have been because he handled it after masturbating.
Asked if the towel would have the child's DNA on it, he replied: 'I don't know. She could have used it to dry her hands.' He went on to say people sometimes took shelter in the lorry when it was raining heavily.
He was also quizzed on a message in which he told Jarvis: 'Hey, I have a feeling that [name of the child] has said about us. If anyone asks for sake of both of us nothing ever happened that night xx.'
Jarvis replied: 'Hey, who's she told? Oh God has she really, what's she trying to do, make our lives hell? Of course I will xx.'
Simmonds claimed he had sent this message because the girl had been 'texting everybody absolute c**p' and 'being a nuisance' in a row over other females whom she believed to be close to him.
Asked why he was so worried about a 'teenage melodrama' that he decided to message Jarvis, he replied: 'I was just trying to get people to not carry on with this stuff.' He claimed police had been involved after the child allegedly harassed another female.
The girl claimed she consented to have sex with Simmonds the first time but that 'the other times he would just sort of expect me to follow him and it would go from there'. Simmonds denies any sexual activity with her.
She alleged there was an occasion when Simmonds was on top of her and he took out his phone.
There was allegedly a flash from the phone, which made her feel 'adamant' he was 'having sex with me but obviously videoing at the same time'. Simmonds denies ever doing so.
Simmonds also claims the victim lied about the encounter before creating bogus WhatsApp conversations after he rejected her.
He said the girl may have used a 'pranking' app to create the messages or even messaged herself from another device while using his name.
He said: 'I believe the messages to be fake.'
When quizzed about his concerns about not turning up at the same time at her mother, he told the court he was only intending on having sex with Jarvis after the pair were involved in an affair - and he wanted to make sure he was not spotted.
He said: 'It was solely because I was cheating on my partner and I know the girl and her mum knew my partner.'
Simmonds told the court the girl had previously made him and his partner feel 'uncomfortable' by using 'inappropriate' language about sex.
He said: 'There were rumours that she was telling people that I had been trying it on with her. I was worried.
'The horse world is very small. I wanted to keep my reputation. She was a very volatile person.'
Prosecutor James Hartson said Simmonds added the underage teenage girl on Facebook and said: 'Thanks for accepting' before being told her age.
The jury has heard how Simmonds wanted to give a £50,000 'pay off' to the family of the girl when he was arrested.
He allegedly called his mother from prison to ask her to take £20,000 from his account to pay the family of the schoolgirl.
A court heard Simmonds was recorded in phone calls saying: 'They are so fickle. Buying that f***ing mum will work.
'There is £20,000 in my account. Just f***ing give it to them. I don't care.'
He added: '£20,000 now and then £10,000 a year for three years.'
Earlier in the trial, prosecutor James Hartson told the jury the case was not one of rape nor of sexual assault but of sexual activity with a child, an offence enacted to 'protect children from sexual exploitation by adults and to protect them from themselves - it is as simple as that'.
Jarvis denies any sexual activity took place involving herself and the schoolgirl, although she has alleged the girl wanted it to happen.
Text messages on the subject were 'banter' and a 'wind up', according to Jarvis, who did accept having sex with Simmonds.
Simmonds and Jarvis deny engaging in sexual activity with a child.
The trial continues.