Chess girl rape claim 'strategic'

Mr Gilbert accused his daughter of drip-feeding information

A chess prodigy's claim that her father raped her was part of a "premeditated strategy", a court has heard.

In an interview played to Guildford Crown Court, Ian Gilbert told police Jessie may have planned her allegations as though "playing chess" against him.

Mr Gilbert, 48, who denies five counts of rape, said his daughter was "quite capable of planning ahead".

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

Her father has denied five counts of raping her between 1995 and 2000.

'Very sensitive'

The court heard Mr Gilbert, a Royal Bank of Scotland director, suggested Jessie may have deliberately drip-fed information about the alleged abuse to family and friends before she contacted police in order to make her story more credible.

Jessie Gilbert was competing in the Czech Republic when she died

He said of his daughter: "She has an excellent grasp of strategy."

Mr Gilbert said his daughter's high IQ was "no guarantee of a stable personality" and that she had been "a very sensitive girl" who did not take criticism well.

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.

Jessie, 19, was competing in an international tournament in the Czech town of Pardubice at the time of her death.

She had been working towards becoming a Women's International Master and had a place to study medicine at Oxford.

The trial continues.