Alex Hicken, 23, guilty of sexually assaulting drunk woman

Alexander Hicken, who teaches youngsters at Basingstoke Gymnastic Club, told friends he was "going to **** her" after his drunk victim was put to bed at a family party in August 2019.

The 23-year-old, of leafy Loggon Road in Viables, denied the charges but a jury unanimously found him guilty following a four-day trial at Winchester Crown Court this week.

His victim, who has been left with nightmares after the ordeal, had drunk so much Lambrini and vodka jelly shots that she “had to be put to bed” and was partially put into her pajamas, prosecution barrister Emily Cook told the court in her opening statement.

Ms Cook said that the woman was “so drunk that she was sick every time she moved”.

Hicken, of Loggon Road in Viables, sat on the edge of her bed, rubbing her thigh and bum, and was told to leave her room and he left to go to the pub with others.

Ms Cook said: “On the way to the pub Alex Hicken was making claims about the victim and saying that he was going to have sex with her and then said ‘whoops, shouldn’t have said that.”

A witness said they overheard Hicken say, "I am going to **** [the victim]" during their night out.  

When he returned to the house “he was not finished” with her and sexually touched and kissed her but was startled by others coming upstairs.

Speaking about later that night, the victim, giving evidence on Monday, said: “I remember waking up and Alex was stood in the doorway. He came in, I asked him what he was doing.

“He said at that point ‘you just want a shag or something' - I said 'I absolutely do not.'”

She said that in the early hours: “He then went to get into my bed, and I asked him what he was doing. He said he just wanted a cuddle, I told him that he wasn’t going to get it from me because I didn’t want to.”

Hicken continually sexually assaulted his victim during an eight-hour time period where he repeatedly put his hand on her thigh and bum despite her telling him to stop and reminding him he had a girlfriend.

Hicken also tried to “tuck his tongue” in the victim’s mouth after she had been sick and grabbed her body over her clothes whilst she lay “scared” and “crying”.

The court was told that in the two days after she was assaulted, the alleged victim made 27 separate searches on her phone in relation to sexual assault.

These included "how to deal with sexual assault", "mental health effects of sexual assault and abuse" and "rape and sexual abuse helplines".

Friends of the victim said the incident had "changed her", telling the court: "It was almost as if the person I was so used to being with every other day wasn't there. It was almost as if it wasn't her. [She was] quite distressed in a way I’ve never seen her before. She normally takes stuff on the chin but this had really knocked her, so I knew something drastic had happened.”

The victim has been suffering from nightmares, explaining to the court: "[I] have [them] repeatedly, for a few months, it was every night. They were the same every night. I wake up panicked and have to check that he is not in the room.”

Hicken, who arrived at Winchester Crown Court with his social worker mother and deputy headteacher father, strongly denied the claims with members of Basingstoke Gymnastic Club speaking in his defence.

But the jury, made up of seven men and five women, returned a unanimously guilty verdict for both counts of sexual assault on Thursday, August 26.

Hicken will be sentenced at Winchester Crown Court in October.

Hicken previously represented the junior Team GB at the Loule World Cup in Portugal in 2021.

According to Basingstoke Gymnastic Club's website, he is listed as a tumbling coach. Basingstoke Gymnastic Club has been contacted for comment.

• For free support in dealing with sexual assault, contact The Survivors' Trust on 08088 010818. To report a crime, contact Hampshire Constabulary on 101 or 999 in an emergency.