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. The 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 reclaiming 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. You ignored my repeated pleas to stop acting as though you were entitled to continue an attack on my body. My home was violated by your actions.”
The victim added: “There have been times when I have felt disconnected from my own body, as though it no longer fully belongs to me.”
Holder, who attended via a video link from prison wearing a grey sweatshirt and trousers, did not react as the statement was read. In mitigation, his barrister, Michelle Heeley KC, said his wife and two children would also be punished by his sentence and the youngsters would lose a father figure.
She said Holder had built businesses employing thousands of people and had done a great deal of charitable work. He had already asked if he could train young people in prison in fashion and design.
Heeley said he would be a target in jail because his case was high profile and he was known to have money.
The recorder, David Chidgey, praised the victim for her statement and for giving evidence in full view. He described the attack as a “living nightmare” and said aggravating features included that it took place in her home and that Holder had not been invited in.
The judge described Holder’s actions as “despicable”, adding: “It was an offence about entitlement – your sense of entitlement in relation to having all you wanted and your casual disregard for the victim’s absolute right to say what she wanted to do with her own body.”
Holder had one previous conviction, for drink driving in 2023.
A jury at Gloucester crown court, sitting in Cirencester, found Holder guilty of rape last week. Chidgey dismissed Holder’s application for bail to get his affairs in order and say goodbye to his family before his sentencing, saying he considered him too much of a flight risk owing to his “significant resources”.
A student of graphic design, Holder founded the skateboarding and BMX fashion label Bench. In 2003, he co-founded Superdry with the clothing entrepreneur Julian Dunkerton as a market stall in Cheltenham.
In 2004, the pair opened the brand’s first physical store in Covent Garden, London. It now has stores all over the world, including more than 60 in the UK.
Superdry has said Holder no longer had any role at the company at the time of the offence.
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Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
