Legal

Witnesses in Dappy trial accused of using case to gain money and attention

By | Published on Friday 11 January 2013

Dappy

Two witnesses in the trial of Dappy and two other men over a fight at a petrol station in Guildford last year were yesterday accused of using the case as a means to try to gain money and attention.

As previously reported, Dappy is alleged to have approached two nineteen year old women, Grace Cochran and Serena Burton, at the Guildford filling station in the early hours of 28 Feb last year. It is claimed that when they refused a request to get into his car, he became angry and spat at them. Another man came to the women’s defence and a fight broke out.

Giving evidence yesterday, Burton admitted to Dappy’s lawyer Paul Greaney that she and Cochran had sent messages to each other via Blackberry’s BBM messaging service discussing selling their story to the media. In one, Burton wrote: “Ha ha ha, oh my fuck, my friend’s dad works in the media and he told her that apparently we can get a grand for that type of story from The Sun or something”.

Greaney also referred to tweets in which the pair seemed to revel in the attention they have received since the trial began proper this week. After leaving court on Monday, Burton tweeted: “Ha ha ha, love life, now we are famous”, to which Cochran replied: “Buzzing to be papped”.

Burton also admitted that when another friend wrote to her about the case on BBM on Tuesday, she said of her imminent call to give evidence: “Ha ha ha, I do not even remember [what happened], to be fair, but I will bullshit”.

But commenting on those conversations, Burton denied that she intended to sell her story or that she had or intended to make up any evidence in court, saying: “What I say to my friends and what I say to you are two different things, it’s just conversation. We were just joking between each other, there’s nothing in there to take seriously”.

Dappy’s interview with police following his arrest was also played in court, revealing that Dappy admitted to being at the petrol station during the fracas, but denied starting the aggro, saying he was just been doing some promotional work for his new single.

He said: “I walked over to the girls and said my new single ‘Rockstar’ with Brian May is out on Monday, go and buy it. They were just being rude to me. I just said hello, promoting my single, I said ‘Hi, my single [with] Brian May is coming out’. Two guys coming out, being put in a headlock, bam, that’s all I remember. Someone put me on the ground, in a headlock straight away. One of my security tried to get him off me, we all fell on the ground and I get put in a car after that”.

Stressing that he was simply trying to do a bit of PR when troule began, he said later in the interview: “My job is simply to do with word of mouth – if I see a bunch of people who will buy my record in the near future, I will do my best to get them to buy my record”.

Dappy denies charges of common assault, assault and affray. The trial continues today.



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