A woman raped by Superdry co-founder James Holder has revealed she was working for him at the time of the attack and had to return to work just days later, facing him as if nothing had happened.
Gemma, not her real name, was attacked by the disgraced fashion boss in her own home after Holder got into her taxi following work drinks on a Friday night in May 2022. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, she described the fear and dread she felt on the following Monday morning as she walked into work at a new business Holder had launched after leaving Superdry in 2016.
“Superdry co-founder James Holder's rape victim reveals she worked for him and faced him days after the attack.”
Asked whether he spoke to her that week, she said: "Yeah, he did. Very much like he would have spoken to me the week before. As if nothing had happened."
Multi-millionaire Holder, 54, was jailed in May for eight years for raping Gemma, in what the court heard was a "despicable piece of sexual violence".
Due to her right to anonymity, Gemma's working relationship with Holder had previously been unable to be reported. But in her first media interview, she revealed she had first worked for Holder at his fashion firm Superdry in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, before joining another one of his businesses.
While at Superdry, she said she did not have any direct interaction with Holder, describing him as having an almost "celebrity-like" status. But when she later moved jobs to work at a new company he was launching, she said she became increasingly aware of his "controlling" behaviour. She described a work culture where there was "no room for mistakes" and everyone was on "high alert".
"It certainly was a way of trying to command respect and a sort of allegiance to his agenda, for sure," she said.
The rape happened in May 2022, when a group of people from the company went for drinks at Gin and Juice, in Cheltenham. "It was just, you know, colleagues going out," Gemma said. "Early in the evening, there was nothing unusual… and then I would say later in the night, his [Holder's] behaviour sort of shifted."
Towards the end of the night, a friend called Gemma a taxi, while another cab was called for Holder. But instead, Holder - who is married, with two children - got into Gemma's taxi uninvited. She told the BBC the plan was for her to get out at her address, while he would continue to his own home. But that did not happen and he ended up in her home.
Gemma said she felt like she was going to have the whole world against her. The attack left her traumatised, and she had to continue working alongside her rapist until his arrest.