Everything was black - then I felt the bed support me as I descended from mid-air

"He sat down and pulled me down to sit on his lap.

“He was knocking back the champagne. I was still only halfway through my first glass and he was encouraging me to drink up. Then he said, ‘You’re very trusting, aren’t you? I could be a rapist for all you know.’

“It was a strange thing to say but I just thought it was a typical bloke trying to be funny and not quite getting it right.

“After that, we followed the rest of the group to the dance-floor. As I began to dance, I felt clumsy.

“The music seemed to be getting louder but I couldn’t co-ordinate with the beat. I felt like my brain was not connected to my body.

“One of Jason’s friends tried to pour more drink in my glass but I blocked it with my hand because I knew I didn’t feel right.”

Jessica had no idea that she had gone beyond the point of help. The drug was taking effect.

She says: “I started to feel extremely tired but whenever I sat down Jason or one of his friends would haul me back up and hurl me around until I slumped back on a sofa in exhaustion.

“I could hardly summon the energy to focus on how to stand or move my head let alone come to any conclusion about what was happening to me or what could be causing it. I wanted to go but I needed my bag.”

She managed to lift her head to see Jason grinning — taunting her by waving the bag at her.

She says: “The rest of my memories of that night are blurred and fragmented.

“I remember looking at my feet and not being able to understand how I was managing to walk.

“Looking back, I assume I was being carried along. I felt the cold air on my face and slowly realised I must be outside.

“I looked up and saw Jason in the driver’s seat beside me. I was in a car but had no recollection of how or why.

“A pair of hands reached around me from the back seat. I could see they were touching me. Then I was being frogmarched through a hotel lobby.”

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Jason and his accomplice were taking a disorientated Jessica to their hotel room where at least another four men were waiting.

Her ordeal was about to become absolutely terrifying.

She says: “Everything was black – then I felt the bed support me as I descended from mid-air.

“Two hands gripped my shoulders from behind but I still couldn’t see or hear anything.

“I jolted forward. My body’s last attempt at resistance drained me of energy and I blacked out.

“When I came round I was aware of a sharp pain in both my breasts. After a few minutes I realised Jason and his accomplice were lying either side of me, viciously biting me.

“I was completely naked and had no idea how long I had been there or what they had done to me. Suddenly, I was wrenched up and held on top of Jason while he raped me. I knew what was happening but couldn’t do anything. It was as if I was watching it all happen to someone else.

“As the two men held me, they pulled my hair, forcing my face into their naked groins.”

The horror of the night is still too much for Jessica to cope with and she dissolves into tears.

Two years on, including 12 months taking anti-depressants and having intense counselling, the sketchy memory of that night still haunts her.

She says: “I could hear voices coming from all around the room and I believe there were at least six men there. I tried to turn my head but they just jerked it back so I couldn’t see anything.

“Another man moved behind me. The first I knew of his presence was when I felt an excruciating pain — he was raping me in the most degrading way. I managed to cry out for them to stop. They moved away and I slumped down face-first like a rag doll.

"They were talking and laughing behind me and I was trying so hard to listen but I realised they were not speaking English.

“They were poking me in the back and laughing. Jason pulled me in to the bathroom and told me to get dressed.

“But as he was about to walk out he turned back and raped me again.

“Then he led me back outside to a car with two men in. I kept asking if they would let me get a cab. They refused, mockingly saying how dangerous it was out there.

But as he was about to walk out he turned back and raped me again.

“I recognised my hotel and they let me out. I bounced off the walls as I stumbled to my room.

“My friend opened the door and seemed chirpy — blissfully unaware of the terrifying chain of events after she had left me.”

Jessica adds: “I was scared of going to the police at first because I didn’t see how they could understand something I didn’t even understand myself.

“Eventually, I plucked up the courage to tell a friend. She told me to put the clothes I wore that night into a bag for the police to run tests on. The police were fantastic from the start.”

They were convinced Jessica had been drugged. But, unfortunately, the drugs only stay in the system for 12 hours.

The police found and arrested Jason and Tom. Tests on Jessica’s clothes and the two men found a DNA match. Tom’s statement mirrored Jessica’s but claimed she consented to sex with all the men.

Jason said she consented to sex then explained how three of his friends came into the room and raped her.

Despite the conflicting statements and a judge’s ruling that the prosecution had enough evidence to make a case, the charges were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service just two weeks before the trial was set to begin.

Jessica says: “Jason phoned me the morning after the rape. He was asking lots of questions as if trying to decipher what I could remember. His accomplice Tom called that night with the same agenda.”

The calculated calls went in their favour because the CPS decided that a criminal would not risk getting in touch after the event.

They also concluded that Jason and Tom’s actions in driving her to her hotel were not those of guilty men.

But the devastating news has made Jessica more determined than ever to make her voice heard.

She says: “I cannot change what has happened but the way I cope with that night depends on what I do now to stop the same thing happening to other innocent victims.”

Additional reporting: CAROLINE PALMER