Female submariner says Navy colleague raped her at Faslane

A female submariner has alleged she was raped by a colleague three years ago while they were serving at the Faslane Naval base on the Clyde.

The woman told the High Court in Livingston she had been celebrating a colleague’s qualification on board the submarine, and back at the mess base bar, before she was sexually assaulted.

Jake Wilson, from Gosport in Hampshire, denies rape and has lodged a special defence of consent.

The 38-year-old also denies sexually assaulting another woman on several occasions, including on board a nuclear submarine.

The female sailor said she was very drunk on the night of the alleged assault, and had needed help to leave the mess bar and return to her cabin in an accommodation block on the base at Gare Loch.

She and her colleagues then continued to party through the early hours of the morning.

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The sailor, who had been drinking port and wine, said she came round later to find herself alone so went to bed and fell asleep immediately.

However she awoke to find a man on top of her.

She told the court: “Next thing I remember is someone being on top of me and someone’s face.

“I was very confused. I felt a beard on my face so I knew it was a man. I didn’t know who.”

She said the man whispered “I bet you’re glad I came back now” as he groped her and then raped her.

The woman said she remembered “trying really hard to push him off of me and saying ‘no’.

“I was half asleep still and I was so drunk that I couldn’t physically push him.”

She told the jury that petty officer Jake Wilson was the person who was having sex with her.

Wilson, 38, from Gosport, Hampshire, is charged with raping the woman on 11 May 2023 and sexually assaulting a second submariner on various occasions between 1 October 2021 and 3 November 2022 by spanking her on the buttocks and hugging her.

He has pleaded not guilty to both charges and has lodged a special defence that both complainers consented to sexual activity.

It has been agreed that it was him who had sexual contact with the women.

The trial, before temporary judge John Morris, continues.