Nile Ranger 'deleted trophy photo'

Former Newcastle United striker Nile Ranger, who is accused of raping a woman in a hotel, deleted a "trophy photo" from his phone minutes before handing it in to the police because "he knew it would give the game away", a court has heard.

The 22-year-old took the picture of some bedding, a room key and a notepad in the £30-a-night hotel after allegedly raping a woman who he had been out drinking with.

However, after being arrested he removed the image from his phone just before he handed over his belongings at the police station.

Asking Ranger about why he had taken the picture, Christine Egerton, prosecuting, said:

"Its not that you wanted a trophy is it?" and went on to accuse him of removing it because it was incriminating.

"You deleted that image from the phone that you had secreted on you minutes before," she said.

"You had been deleting an incriminating image because you knew you had to hand your property over. You knew that it would give the game away, you knew you had done something wrong."

Now with Swindon Town, and nursing a hamstring injury which meant he sat down to give evidence at Newcastle Crown Court, Ranger denies raping the woman and insists they had consensual sex.

He said he did not view the picture to be a trophy because it was not very pleasant and told the jury he could not remember why he had taken it.

Earlier, he said he had never engaged in sexual activity with a woman against her wishes and that the pair had engaged in sex in different positions.

The alleged victim says she was raped in the Carlton Hotel, Jesmond, after agreeing to meet the footballer in a city centre bar.

She said she could not remember anything until she woke up naked in the hotel room the next morning.

Ranger told her she should take the morning after pill and she left, she said, and they continued to swap messages that day.

She then visited her GP, was checked at hospital and made a rape allegation to police.

Ranger denies a charge of rape and the case was adjourned until Monday.