Lawrence Jones' daughters sob as £700m tech tycoon once dubbed 'Britain's nicest boss' is found guilty of drugging and raping two women 30 years ago - as it is revealed he has spent the last nine months behind bars for sex attack on colleague

A multi-millionaire tech tycoon once known as 'Britain's nicest boss' was today found guilty of drugging and raping two 'stupefied' women while working as a hotel pianist almost 30 years ago - with his two daughters sobbing in court as the verdicts were returned. 

Former tech tycoon Lawrence Jones, 55, pounced on both women at his flat while earning a living as a musician in the early 1990s. In both cases, they were rendered 'stupefied and left partially conscious but unable to react' after the UKFast founder used drugs to 'facilitate' their rape. 

One was 'given something to sniff, which had an immediate impact on her', lasting the 'very few minutes' it took Jones to rape her, prosecutors said. The other was 'given a glass of wine and something which she believed was cannabis to smoke', but 'again the effect was pretty quick'.

Following the guilty verdicts - which took the jury just over four hours - it can now be reported that Jones has spent the past nine months behind bars after being convicted of sexually assaulting a female employee at a London hotel. 

Before his stunning downfall, the father-of-four – who left school in north Wales with just four O-levels – had built a £700million fortune and a reputation as a business guru, playing chess against Sir Richard Branson on Necker Island and regularly featuring on the BBC.

His success saw him appointed MBE in 2015 for services to the digital economy, and he twice donated £100,000 to the Conservative Party. Jones' loyal wife Gail - with whom he shares four daughters - had stood by him during the trial. 

Last January the Bentley-driving former cathedral chorister was convicted of sexually assaulting an employee – then a recent graduate - on a business trip at a penthouse hotel suite in 2013. 

The woman, who claimed Jones had instructed her that as part of her role she needed to 'look like a Bond girl', told police Jones had grabbed her legs as they sat on a sofa, saying: 'Let me see your knickers.'

The millionaire then tried to push her thighs apart and get on top of her, she alleged, as she cried out: 'No!'

'He was pulling my dress down, pulling the top down,' she added. 'I was terrified, I was really scared. I felt like he was trying to have sex with me if I'm being honest. It was almost like I was his.' 

The two rapes he was convicted of today took place in a flat in Salford, Greater Manchester between 1993 and 1994 when Jones was about 25.

But the victims did not come forward until 'many years' later, by which time Jones was 'in the public eye' as a result of becoming a successful entrepreneur. 

The first victim, Woman A, met Jones while working in Manchester city centre. 

She took a dislike to Jones after his response when she was 'complaining' about her 'love life', prosecutor Eloise Marshall KC told jurors.

Jones allegedly told her 'well you just need a damn good seeing to, you just need a good f******, don't you?'.

According to Woman A, 'she not only disagreed with his politics but found him arrogant'.

However in late 1993, Jones asked her to come to his flat for a drink and a 'chat' so they could 'get to know one another'.

She agreed and arrived alone at the 'dimly lit' flat after midnight, where Jones poured her a glass of wine – probably red - before rolling a 'spliff'.

He then sat down next to her – 'manspreading towards her on the sofa', she later recalled – while she had a couple of drags on the joint and one glass of wine.

But the woman would later say her memories of what happened are 'like snapshots or freeze frames'.

She later told police she recalled going to the toilet and feeling 'ill' – 'spaced out, very floaty and not... right at all'.

In another 'flash of memory', she remembered Jones standing with his arms around her.

She felt 'very strange, as if her body wasn't her own, she felt numb'. 

Then she recalled 'falling backwards onto the bed' and 'coming round' to find Jones 'kissing her neck and her chest passionately with one hand going around her waist onto her back and the other hand on her left breast'.

At this point she believes she was bare-legged and had no top on. She believes she asked Jones something like 'What are you doing?'

But he responded with something like 'it'll be our secret' and 'it'll be good for you', she said.

The woman said Jones warned her that he could do what he wanted to her because no-one knew she was there. 

Her next memory was when she 'came round' the following morning, with Jones booking her a taxi so she wouldn't be late for work.

She felt 'really, really rough, really sick with a headache as if she had had a big night out' rather than how she would expect to feel after just one glass of wine.

Feeling 'numb' and 'in shock', she went home after her shift and had a shower.

Woman A just wanted to feel 'normal', she later told police.

She told three friends at the time about what had allegedly happened, Ms Marshall said, and later spoke to a counsellor and a police officer, although she did not make a formal complaint at that stage.

Her account to them was 'consistent' with what she would go on to tell police in 2021, jurors were told.

The second alleged incident involved a woman in her early 20s whom Jones had met while playing piano at Manchester bars, and also trying to establish a company managing musicians.

She told police she was chatting with Jones – who she described as having 'poor hygiene' and 'a real 'Ew' about him' – at his flat in 1993 or 1994 when he asked how old she was.

When she gave her age, Jones allegedly replied 'look at you, you're gorgeous'.

Jones then allegedly told her to sniff a small medicine bottle with a clear liquid inside it.

Woman B agreed – something the court heard now 'surprises' her – 'and instantly felt really, really drunk', prosecutor Eloise Marshall said.

She told police how she became 'instantly sort of really floppy and relaxed all over and really out of it'.

The court heard she felt 'Whoa' and decided just to 'lie back' on a bed as she felt 'light-headed and not completely conscious'.

But as she was lying on her back with her eyes shut, Jones had sex with her.

She told jurors that Woman B recalled how 'there was no kissing, no conversation and no foreplay'.

It lasted about 30 seconds, according to Woman B who said it had been 'bizarre and so fast, and so sort of opportunistic'.

Jurors were told her reaction had been almost like: 'Did that really happen?'

Rather than being 'angry', she felt 'shocked', but also that it was her fault as she had not 'fought back', Ms Marshall said.

She questioned at the time whether it could be classified as rape as it had not been violent, she had not been pinned down and she did not try to scream or push him off, jurors were told.

As a result, she was subsequently not 'confident enough' to accuse Jones of raping her, describing herself as 'naïve'.

Feeling no-one would believe her, she decided to 'park it', although she later told her future husband and a close friend. She made a formal complaint to police in April 2022.

Interviewed by detectives in February 2022 about Woman A's allegation, Jones made no comment to 'almost every question' he was asked. 

He provided a prepared statement in which he denied raping her, with or without the use of drugs.

Jones was interviewed about Woman B's allegations in July 2022, making no comment to the questions he was asked.

However in a prepared statement he accepted having known her but 'vehemently' denied raping her.

The trial will hear evidence about the different drugs that Jones may have used based on the women's accounts.

Jones, of Hale Barns, Greater Manchester, will be sentenced on December 1. 

Revealed: Double rapist was previously convicted of sexual assault after telling a young employee to 'look like a Bond girl' before 'trying to get on top of her' 

By James Tozer 

Once Sir Richard Branson's chess partner, and heralded as the face of Britain's tech industry, Lawrence Jones' downfall has been spectacular.

After being accused in a Financial Times investigation of deliberately recruiting attractive female staff and then using his powerful position to pester and sexually harass them, Jones ended up cutting ties with his web hosting and cloud computing business, UKFast.

But that was just the start of his dramatic fall from grace – for it can now be reported that the father-of-four has spent the past nine months behind bars after being convicted of sexually assaulting one of his employees.

The result of that trial – which saw him acquitted of raping another former staff member – could not be revealed to avoid prejudicing the jury in the latest case.

The second trial has now ended with him being convicted of two rapes committed while he was working as a hotel pianist before his business career took off.

It can therefore now be reported how Jones was found guilty of sexually assaulting the young woman at a hotel during a business trip.

She told police that Jones had instructed her that she needed to 'look like a Bond girl'.

The tycoon also told the shocked graduate that as part of her role she ought to be 'able to walk into my bedroom in your knickers with a cup of coffee and say 'All right boss'.

Recounting the terrifying attack, she told detectives how Jones grabbed her legs as they sat on an L-shaped sofa, saying: 'Let me see your knickers.'

The millionaire then tried to push her thighs apart and get on top of her, she alleged, as she cried out: 'No!'

'He was pulling my dress down, pulling the top down,' she added.

'I was terrified, I was really scared.

'I felt like he was trying to have sex with me if I'm being honest.

'It was almost like I was his.'

A string of lurid revelations and claims about the married multi-millionaire's lifestyle and behaviour towards female colleagues at UKFast emerged during the case, which could not previously be reported.

Jones claimed that the worker who accused him of rape actually performed a sex act upon him in his steam room following a tequila-fuelled drinking session at his £3million gated mansion in the upmarket Cheshire suburb of Hale Barns.

Another female former employee alleged that Jones told her she needed to have 'a boob job' if she wanted to get ahead in the company.

Others described how the women Jones hired at his Manchester headquarters were almost universally 'blonde, beautiful and young' and would be subjected to comments such as 'Look at those legs' and 'Nice a***'.

Cringe-worthy text message exchanges revealed how the father-of-three addressed female staff as 'dude', let them refer to him as 'homey' and was nicknamed 'L-Dog'.

They were said to have compared notes about how to stay off his 'Loz-dar' – his roving eye.

It was a far cry from the public image of 'Britain's best boss' who treated his hundreds-strong workforce to perks including an ice rink in the car park, a fully-stocked bar, a den for taking naps in and even a giant chess set.

Jones's world began to crumble at the start of 2019 when a former employee – who we are referring to as Woman C - called police to accuse him of raping her nine years earlier, branding him a 'very dangerous man'.

She told detectives that during a team-building weekend at the Snowdonia estate owned by the tycoon and his wife Gail, he had 'pushed me up against a wall, put his hands down my trousers and down my underwear'.

The next morning, she alleged that 'I was woken up by his hands under the duvet inside my knickers'.

Even worse was to come at the office Christmas party in 2010, held at the upmarket Great John Street Hotel in Manchester, when Jones came into her room as she was getting ready and 'pushed me on the bed', she alleged.

'I couldn't move, he was too heavy,' she gasped.

'I just stared at the ceiling, I kind of froze.'

After having sex with her, a 'blasé' Jones told her to 'go downstairs' as 'everyone was arriving for the party,' she said.

At another UKFast staff perk, a trip to the ski resort of Verbier, Woman C claimed Jones again awakened her by putting his hand under the duvet.

She also alleged that Jones spiked her drink during a reception at a luxury hotel.

The woman told police she felt under pressure to keep up her 'bright, bubbly' persona and attend social events with Jones.

But the reality was that she was 'trapped in paradise'.

'He was using his company to facilitate abuse,' she claimed.

Woman C eventually left UKFast with a confidential pay-out under which both parties agreed not to make 'derogatory' statements about one another.

Giving evidence at Manchester Crown Court in January, Woman C recalled how shortly after starting work at UKFast, Jones left a Rampant Rabbit vibrator in a bag for her.

'I put it in the bin in the kitchen,' she said. 'I was very embarrassed.'

But Eleanor Laws KC, defending Jones, showed the jury a clip from the Christmas party showing her hugging Jones, and later dancing.

She denied 'making this up as you go along', however, and insisted she had no choice about her interactions with her 'boss'.

The trial heard she told another a colleague in 2014 that she had been raped by Jones.

She said Woman C had been 'upset and angry' but refused to make a formal complaint as she 'hadn't fought him off'.

The witness also recalled Jones telling her that 'I would be successful if I had a boob job and things that I wanted would come to me'.

She said Jones was 'handsy' with her but she was 'scared because if you said anything at UKFast you would lose your job'.

Another employee, Aisha Jefferson, said Jones gave her and colleagues 'shoulder rubs' and made sexual remarks.

'I wore a long skirt one day and he said 'Did you buy that at a nunnery?' she told the trial.

Ms Jefferson said the women Jones worked with were 'blonde, beautiful and young'.

'They could be models,' another former member of staff, Emma McClelland, recalled.

Jones' second accuser – Woman D - claimed the tycoon tried to force himself on her during a business trip in 2013.

Interviewed by detectives in 2019, Woman D said on the taxi ride there Jones 'kept saying 'I can see up your dress'.

'I was a young girl and it made me feel uncomfortable,' she said.

She said Jones made her feel 'uncomfortable' by quizzing her about her boyfriend and that after going out for a meal they sat together on an L-shaped sofa.

Woman D told police Jones kept 'grabbing' her and trying to make her lie down with him, saying it was her job to 'make me feel at ease'.

Jones told her he and his wife had an 'open relationship' and 'he wouldn't do anything if she wasn't cool with it', she added.

She alleged that he told her: 'You should be able to walk into my bedroom in your knickers with a cup of coffee and say 'All right boss', or crash on the bed next to me.'

After being sexually assaulted, she locked herself in her bedroom all night, she said.

In what the prosecution said was damning evidence of his guilt, Jones offered her a pay rise and a bonus.

But she refused to accept the offer and handed in her notice, telling Jones by email that his 'inappropriate and unprofessional' behaviour had caused her 'considerable distress'.

Woman D later filed an employment tribunal claim.

But that was withdrawn after she was offered a £13,000 pay-out and signed a non-disclosure agreement, the court heard.

Giving evidence about the business trip, Woman D recalled how Jones branded the clothes she'd packed 'trampy and disgusting'.

Telling her she needed to 'look like a Bond girl' while accompanying him, he said he would ask the concierge to get a negligee for her.

Cross-examining her, Ms Laws suggested she had been sitting in a 'frog legs' position and he had simply pointed out that her short dress was riding up.

However she denied this.

Interviewed by police in May 2019, Jones 'strenuously' denied ever having knowingly done anything to make female employees feel uncomfortable.

He claimed Woman C had been 'volatile and drank alcohol far too much', adding that he had been 'completely unimpressed' by Woman D's attitude on the trip.

Jones accused her of behaving 'flirtatiously and sexually' and 'exposing her underwear'.

He told detectives he said goodnight, went to bed and called his wife.

Jones said he'd had a good relationship with Woman C, saying their friendship once 'crossed the line' while they were drinking tequila in the swimming pool of his home.

After his wife went to bed, the pair moved from the Jacuzzi to the steam room where she carried out a sex act on him, he said.

Jones said the 'brief' and 'embarrassing' sex act lasted less than a minute as he was 'so drunk' he couldn't perform.

For her part, Woman C denied ever carrying out a sex act on Jones.

Jones denied ever spiking her drink – the allegation did not form part of the charges he faced – or going into her room at the Christmas party or the Verbier lodge.

Asked by his barrister about the business trip, Jones insisted there was nothing wrong with wanting staff to look 'smart and well-presented'.

Giving his account of the alleged sex assault, Jones said: 'She was sat with her frog-legs, with her feet touching, knees out.

'I said 'You might want to consider sitting in a different way given you're in a short dress'.'

Under cross-examination, Jones denied his account was pure fabrication.

'You clearly had a thing about her knickers,' prosecuting barrister Eloise Marshall KC said.

'Not at all,' Jones replied.

'You were trying to have sex with her,' she suggested.

'No,' Jones answered.

His barrister suggested the 'inappropriate' behaviour referenced by Woman D in her resignation email was a bust-up between Jones and his wife in which he reduced her to tears in a row over a bill.

He denied his behaviour that morning was an example of how 'frightening' he was when he doesn't get his way.

Asked by Ms Laws if he ever massaged the shoulders of female employees in the office, Jones said that was 'a normal piece of behaviour'.

As for comments about their legs and bottoms, he answered: 'Absolutely not – my mother-in-law and wife worked in that building.'

He denied making female staff sit on his lap, and said the comment about having a breast enlargement was an anecdote about his sister.

Jones said he wouldn't 'put myself in that situation again' and now had 'cameras everywhere' in his offices.

The trial heard how UKFast grew rapidly over the decade, from 60-80 staff in 2010 to around 500 in 2019.

Jones's barrister highlighted how Women C and D only came forward after the business grew to become 'of some financial worth'.

After deliberating for more than ten hours, on January 31 the jury convicted Jones of sexually assaulting Woman D.

But they cleared him of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault against Woman C.

Jones's legal team argued that he should be released on bail ahead of his second trial, pointing out that he had faithfully attended every court hearing.

However Judge Sarah Johnston disagreed, saying she had 'concerns about his means'.

As her husband was remanded in custody, Jones's wife – who has been a highly visible and supportive presence at court throughout both trials – became tearful and clutched the hand of her father, who accompanied her every day.

At a subsequent hearing in April, Jones' lawyers offered sureties totalling £1.4million plus security measures – including a chaperone and an electronic tag – which they said amounted to 'virtual house arrest' if he were released on bail.

However Judge Johnston again turned down the application, saying that having spent almost three months behind bars 'may well make it more likely rather than less he would wish to flee the jurisdiction'.

Clearly upset, as she left court, his watching wife said: 'Our kids have got to be without their dad.'

Jurors at his second trial were not told he was in custody.

He is currently applying to judges at the Court of Appeal in a bid to overturn his January conviction.