A multimillionaire boss wooed his staff with office treats and trips to his ski chalet but beneath it all lay a sinister motive.
Lawrence Jones may have seemed to have it all – a successful business empire, a loving family, an MBE and the title of one 'UK's nicest bosses' – but his sickening actions caused it all to come crashing down. In his mid 20s, he lived in an apartment in Salford where he "stupefied" two women with an unknown drug before raping them, the MEN reports.
Thinking he'd got away with it, he spent the next decade strutting around his UK Fast office in Hulme, surveying his kingdom. It wasn't long before his predatory side re-emerged. But his crimes finally caught up with him earlier this week when he was convicted of two counts of rape following the separate incidents in the early 1990s.
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The jury heard the founder of the Manchester tech company appeared confident, outgoing and friendly with staff, introducing 'Beer Fridays', office games and trips away to his ski chalet.
But there was another uncomfortable side to his friendly banter – the hiring of young people, particularly women. Prosecutiors described Jones' behaviour as "grooming and predatory" using his power as the boss to "get what he wanted."
He would build women up, flatter them and tell them how "hot" they were, before making advances, the court heard. If things didn't go his way, he told them they were "uptight" and that they needed to "relax."
Witnesses said he would only employ "very confident, beautiful young women" who were "easily led." One woman described how he made her feel uncomfortable when he would approach her from behind and rub her shoulders.
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Another woman said he'd tried to get her to put her head on his shoulder while sitting on a park bench after a walk and accused her of being "closed off" and "uptight" when she refused. Jones' intentions became clear during a business trip when he messaged the woman to say: "You can be a bit more casual, but you need to look hot… a short skirt to show your legs off."
After persuading her to go back to his penthouse suite after an event, Jones touched her legs and said: "Let me see your knickers."
"He was forceful and starting trying to prise her legs apart," prosecutors said. The woman desperately tried to pull her dress down while struggling. She eventually managed to get away.
The next morning, working up the courage to leave her adjoining room, she was confronted with Jones' aloof attitude. He was "cold" and rude, instead suggesting she was being arrogant towards him.
His domineering behaviour continued. After returning home, the woman told her parents what had happened. Jones was aware she wasn't happy and repeatedly messaged and called her, the court heard.
In one message, he said: "You are a superstar… can you give me a call back please." Prosecutors said Jones knew exactly what he had done and wanted to see how she was reacting.
It was later suggested to the woman that she had "overreacted to a joke'"
Jones denied the assault happened, instead suggesting the woman had been flirtatious with him and was "trouble."
At his trial, he said the earlier message to her looking "hot" was "stupid phrasing" and that he simply mirrored her thoughts about her outfit. "I can see it was inappropriate," he said.
He claimed that after going back to the room, she was sat 'frog-legged' exposing her underwear, to which he said: "You might want to consider sitting a different way because you're wearing a short dress."
"Her story was made up – I thought it was really unfair," Jones told the court.
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Another ex-employee claimed Jones had told her to not have regular sexual intercourse, but instead have anal sex, as he "didn't want another woman getting pregnant."
Jurors convicted him of sexual assault against the woman in January. He was cleared of three counts of sexual assault and one count of rape against another woman, who described him as a "master puppeteer."
Following his conviction of sexual assault in January, Jones was remanded into custody, where he remained for 10 months. At a second trial this month, he was convicted of drugging and raping two other women at his flat in Salford in the 1990s while he was working in bars as a pianist.
He awaits sentence in prison next month – a world away from his career as a multi-millionaire businessman.
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