Odey: Intimacy with the young woman ‘might’ve been at the back of my mind’
The case involving an indecent assault allegation against city grandee Crispin Odey should come to a conclusion this afternoon, after Odey took to the witness stand this morning to give his recollection of events.
Odey appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court today to defend himself against an alleged indecent assault that took place in 1998.
Today marks the hedge fund manager’s final day in court, in a case that has dragged on for months and was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Last month a court heard Odey “lunged” at a junior woman in banking and groped her breast.
Odey, 62 and founder of Odey Asset Management, has persistently denied the assault charge, instead saying he merely propositioned the woman.
At the time of the alleged assault the woman attended a client meeting with Odey AM in Mayfair, and was invited to return later to meet privately with Odey.
Today on the witness stand Odey said he had invited the young woman to his home for dinner the day after meeting her at a business meeting. When she arrived at Odey’s home, he said the pair sat separately in Odey’s television room in Chelsea, chit-chatted and ordered a Chinese takeaway.
Odey admitted he had not told his wife that the young woman was coming over.
Sat together in the television room, Odey said the young woman asked Odey why he was being “so nice to her” and “where do you think this is all going to end?”
The hedge fund manager then said he was “ashamed” to admit he said he hoped it would end in bed.
At that point, said Odey, the young woman became angry and walked downstairs to leave: “I totally misunderstood her question, she got up, and I tried to apologise, and she walked in silence downstairs to the door,” he said.
Odey said he remembered the events that took place that evening because of how angry the young woman became and that she left before dinner. He said the young woman “couldn’t have been in the house for more than an hour and a half”.
On the witness stand the hedge fund mogul admitted to his lawyer, Crispin Aylett QC, that intimacy with the young woman “might’ve been in the back of my mind, but not at the front of my mind.”
He also today admitted he found the young woman “attractive and intelligent” and, had she reacted differently to his proposal, things could have become intimate that night, or at some point in the future, a fact Odey said has put strain on his marriage.
Differing recollections
Odey’s recollection of events differs from the young woman’s. In court last month, Kerry Broome, the prosecutor, said the young woman, aged 26 at the time, went to Odey’s offices, where he, at the time 39, suggested they go to a nearby pub. The pub was crowded, and so Odey proposed going to his house in Chelsea, where they went together in a taxi.
The woman hoped going there “would further her career”, the court heard.
According to the prosecution, at Odey’s house the hedge fund manager said he was going to change, and returned shortly afterwards, having showered. The court heard the woman was sitting in a booth-type seat by a table in the kitchen, and he sat beside her, effectively blocking her in.
Broome told the court: “He lunged at her and put his hand on her breast down her shirt. His other hand was on her back then he put a hand up her skirt. This is the physical contact the Crown says constituted an assault.”
The court heard the woman struggled away from Odey and managed to get outside the house. She then caught a passing taxi and went to her then boyfriend’s home.