Superdry co-founder James Holder jailed for eight years for raping woman

A co-founder of the clothing company Superdry has been jailed for eight years for raping a woman after a night out in Cheltenham. James Holder, 54, had been due to get a taxi back to his home in the Cotswolds with a male friend. Instead, the pair got into the victim’s taxi and went to her flat in the Gloucestershire town, where Holder raped her. A jury heard the woman asked Holder to stop but he did not, even when she began crying. The court heard she was more vulnerable because she was intoxicated. Holder, of Cheltenham, had accepted that sexual activity took place in May 2022 but claimed at his trial it was consensual. Holder’s victim read out a statement in court in which she said he had acted as if he was “entitled”. She said: “You chose to take what was never yours – my choice, my dignity, my body. It is four years since you raped me. I have not softened that word to make it easier for you or anyone else to hear. “I am still here, still standing, still re-claiming every part of myself you tried to take. The weight of what happened should be yours to carry, not mine. What you did to me did not end that day. “It has followed me into my relationships, it has cast shadows where there should only be light. I have struggled to see the good in myself at times and at times failed to recognise the value I bring.” She said the weight of what he did had felt overwhelming at times. “You took advantage of my vulnerability. You entered my home uninvited. …