Horse riding boss denies having threesome with underage girl

South Wales Argus

5 days ago

Horse-riding instructor Guy Simmonds, 37, allegedly engaged in the three-way sex act with the schoolgirl and fellow rider Lauren Jarvis, 26.
A court heard Simmonds had a successful career in falconry working at London Zoo and even keeping falcons for the king of Saudi Arabia in Dubai before setting up his equestrian business.
He also featured in a TV show for Horse and Country following his journey from Wales to Mongolia while exploring his passion for falconry and horsemanship.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Simmonds and Jarvis hatched a plan to sleep with the underage teenager before agreeing a "pact of silence" in January last year.
But Simmonds claims the victim lied about the encounter before creating bogus WhatsApp conversations after he rejected her.
Giving evidence, Simmonds 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."
The court heard Simmonds had messaged Jarvis to ask if the victim was at her address before saying: "I don't want to turn up at the same time that her mum drops her off."
But 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.
He later dumped his mobile phone in a bin at a Tesco supermarket just days before he was arrested for alleged sexual contact with a child.
Simmonds denied he was attempting to destroy evidence – and claimed the phone was broken when he was quizzed by police.
The court heard he also burned or threw away a mattress from his horse box where he repeatedly had sex with the victim.
Equestrian boss Simmonds told police he got rid of the mattress because it was "covered in faeces and urine from mice".
The court heard Simmonds messaged Jarvis after the alleged threesome to say: "You both loved that haha" – and Jarvis replied: "Yeah, you missed round two" with a wink emoji.
The court heard Simmonds answered "no comment" in police interview when he was asked to explain the messages before saying: "Everything can be taken out of context".
Simmonds told police that Jarvis was a "friend with benefits" and they had sex about four times before he "thought better of it" and decided to "concentrate on what I've got with my partner".
Following the alleged threesome he messaged Jarvis to say: "Hey, I have a feeling that she has said about us. If anyone asks for sake of both of us nothing ever happened that night xx."
But he claimed he sent this message because the girl had been "texting everybody absolute c**p" and "being a nuisance" in a row over other females she believed were close to him.
Simmonds is accused of six counts of sexual activity with a child and Jarvis faces one charge of sexual activity with a child.
Simmonds, from Undy, Monmouthshire and Jarvis, from Newport, deny all charges.
The trial, before Judge Lucy Crowther, continues.