Chess star 'confided in friend'

Jessie Gilbert fell from an eighth floor hotel window

A chess prodigy told a fellow competitor that her father had abused her, a court has heard.

Jessie Gilbert, 19, allegedly confided in Joseph Redpath, now aged 21, after the pair became close during a chess competition in March 2003.

Jessie, from Croydon, south London, fell to her death from a hotel window in the Czech Republic in July.

Ian Gilbert, 48, a director at the Royal Bank of Scotland, denies five counts of raping Jessie.

Mr Redpath said one evening after dinner, during which Jessie had been drinking, they played pool in a hotel games room in Telford.

"Jessie had been coming on to me. We liked each other for a few months," he told Guildford Crown Court. "She started to kiss me."

Jessie told me that the reason she had been upset with any sexual contact was because her father had abused her Joseph Redpath

He said they went to the male toilets where they performed sex acts on each other but they did not have full sexual intercourse.

She then went off on her own and Mr Redpath said when she returned she appeared upset.

"Jessie told me that the reason she had been upset with any sexual contact was because her father had abused her," he said.

"I asked whether she meant physical abuse or not. She replied to me that it was everything."

He said Jessie never mentioned the abuse to him again and the pair did not keep in touch.

Earlier in the trial, the jury was told Jessie told police the first rape had taken place when she was eight, at her home in Woldingham, Surrey.

During cross examination, Mr Redpath said Jessie did not seem uncomfortable during their sexual encounter.

He admitted she did not use the term "sexual abuse".

The trial continues.